The Yearling

So I'm just sitting at my desk when I hear this strange scratching squeaking sound. My brain is searching to recognize at as I am running towards the sound. I get to the kitchen and find a black bear with his paw on the window and his long 3" nails scratching and squeaking as they slide down the glass. He was trying to reach my suet bird feeder which hangs from our fascia. I yelled at him through the glass and clapped my hands to scare him away - I was very afraid that our 35 year old single pane window wouldn't be able to hold his weight. Luckily he was scared off and ran away.

This is sort of what he looked like (not my photo): 

 - except our guy was very skinny. A couple of hours later I saw the conservation officer's truck go through our street so I hopped in the car to catch up with him. I guess another neighbour had called him.

The sad news is that this little guy is only about a year and a half old and has been recently kicked out of the den as his mother is about to have a baby. He's hungry and has become garbage habituated. The conservation officer told me they will set a trap and he will have to be destroyed because he can't be rehabilitated.

It makes me so sad that once agains humans messed things up. If we hadn't made it easy for the bear to find food in our neighbourhood, if we had cared a little more about nature and our surroundings, this little guy wouldn't loose his life. I know it's the circle of life, but we still shouldn't expedite it!