My Backyard Jungle by James Barilla

Author:James Barilla
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2013-07-22T16:00:00+00:00

So far, we’ve been touring the neglected corners of the city, which is good habitat for bears. But people and bears share much closer quarters here, partly because bird feeders tend to be less common in industrial parks, and partly because bears, like possums and raccoons and foxes and other wild urbanites, are cavity dwellers. Human habitation is essentially a giant cavity, split into levels, with a tempting space, dry, spacious, and snug, right under the deck. We’re not using it, so . . . .

This proximity to animals we kind of adore but also recognize could kill us generates lots of richly ironic material for stories. Ralph Taylor told me one: a team of researchers was searching for a radio-collared female during the early spring season to gather data on cub production. In this case, the telemetry wand took them first into a residential neighborhood. No big deal. They parked and got out of the truck. The signal was pointing toward a house, and it got stronger as they approached. They heard muted voices coming from the backyard. This is when they started to feel a little uncomfortable.

“We’re thinking, where is this thing?” Taylor recalled.

He said they knew enough to call out first as they entered the side yard—you never know what kind of eccentric behavior might be going on in someone’s backyard in bohemian Northampton. Sure enough, as they came around the corner they discovered a couple enjoying their hot tub on the back deck.

Meanwhile, the signal was getting stronger. It got stronger as they approached the back deck and explained what they were doing. In fact, it was strongest right where the couple was sitting in the bubbling water, because the bear was curled up in the crawlspace, about two feet beneath them. And she wasn’t alone; she had three cubs with her.

I can only imagine the conversation between the biologists and the bathers, which must have been something along the lines of “I hate to disturb you folks, but I have reason to believe there’s a bear right underneath your . . . .”

“You’ve never seen anybody get out of a hot tub that fast,” Taylor joked.

Another story, this one a version of Goldilocks from Dave Fuller: an old man leaves his back door open so his old dog can go in and out. He comes up from the basement and he sees this brown thing in the kitchen. At first, he thinks his dog has been rolling in the dirt. Then he looks more closely and realizes that what’s rummaging around in his kitchen isn’t his dog after all. It’s a bear, helping itself to whatever food is on the counter.

When Fuller and his team arrive on the scene, the bear is gone. But as they’re standing in the driveway, who should appear but the bear, coming back for more of the old man’s victuals. They chased it away, and like some kind of ursine apparition, it was never seen again.

Bears that get right up close.

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