A few weeks ago our County Council declared August to be Bear Month:
WHEREAS: [We are] blessed with an abundance of wildlife, and healthy wildlife populations have a positive impact on [us] – our community is notably home to the American Black Bear; and
WHEREAS: Five key bear-safety practices should be added to our daily routines and recreational activities. When out in the wilderness, make noise so that a bear is not surprised by human presence, stay alert and actively look for signs of bears; never approach or crowd bears: keep food, garbage, and other attractants out of reach of bears; stay calm during a bear encounter, and do not run; and
WHEREAS: Humans can also reduce the likelihood of bear encounters around the home by removing bird feeders, securing garbage in bear-resistant containers, not feeding bears, planting gardens away from game trails, and frequently turning compost; and
WHEREAS: The … Nature Center, the Pajarito Environmental Education Center, Land of Enchantment Wildlife Foundation, and many other local and state agencies will present many different bear education events throughout the month of August, including hosting New Mexico’s only Bear Festival on August 24th….
I didn’t go to the third annual bear festival at the environmental education center, even though it’s an easy walk. It had some fun bear-themed activities for the kids and educational exhibits for the adults.
Does your area have any unusual festivals?
August 27, 2019
I live in a highly populated area and we have been getting bear sightings in a neighborhood near-by…quite unusual and police and media are having fun with it.
Not from around here, but there is a cute video going around Facebook of a bear stealing a package from Chewy off a front porch. It’s full of dog food and the bear left the other deliveries along.
Bears are incredibly smart about getting food. Their noses and memory are phenomenal.
PS I’m still laughing at the Chewy story. 😀
I have only seen one bear in real life in the Smoky Mountains! But now they are seen in the area I grew up, Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. We have a Little Italy Festival this coming weekend….it is not huge. Then in October a nearby county has The Covered Bridge Festival and millions come to it. It is held in a country whose total population is not 20,000! There are over 30 covered bridges, plus a few have been lost to arsonists.
The small ones are a lot better, I think. I would hate to be inundated by so many tourists!
loved the bear and Chewy story! wow!
it amazes me that so many cruise around your town there.
hope they go to their hibernation dens when they need to! winter’s coming.
Yes, hibernation is coming and they have to gain a lot of weight to survive the winter. The amazing thing is that so far no one has been hurt, but I do know a lot of people who are very alert when walking their dogs, especially if they live next to one of the canyons.
well there are NO problems with bears here in New Zealand – if one was lucky you might encounter one in a zoo setting, but never looking for something tasty at your home…
I can’t think of anything off hand that is unusual festival here, other than the fact that our Christmas season is summertime whereas yours and others in the Northern hemisphere are winter time. Some people here do a mid -June celebration to try and get the feeling…
sometimes in the lower South Island an unusual snow storm might drop by 25 December. Here in my part of the North Island it might be raining or it might be a brilliant summers’ day…
I’m not a festival fan — I hate crowds — but apparently the tourist industry advertises some NZ festivals. A lot of them are about music, which probably isn’t that unusual.
oh, I forgot about those summertime festivals…I’ve never to any. So I suppose that why I don’t think of them.
no unusual events here that I know of but we have had a lot of bear sightings in the area.
Do you have a lot of fruit trees in the area, or are they mostly after garbage?
We had a young black bear in the back yard of our last house one evening. A town close to us, which is designed like an Alpine Bavarian Village, celebrates Oktoberfest each Autumn.
Did you have fruit trees? They are great bear attractants.
Mom says we have the Renaissance festival here in the fall, but it isn’t as good as it was years ago.
We have never seen a bear, but we have plenty of other wild animals around here.
Woos – Lightning, Misty, and Timber
That’s too bad it has gone downhill. It sounds like fun.