penguinsix

As long as your are not looking down and texting on your phone, you should be ok...

judesM

We have black bears in our area. They are generally timid. They raid our bird feeders and garbage around dusk if those items are inadvertently left out. Sometimes when my kids were little waiting for the bus, a bear would emerge from the woods. We trained the kids to yell at the bear, generally make noise and the bear would leave.

Skunks are more of a pest when our dogs get into them. Porcupines too are a pain because it takes forever to pull the quills out of the dogs' snouts' Deer ticks are more dangerous to us all than the bears.

Suz16

Mum 2 3, that photo is amazing! Looks like they were really close.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Have done lots of googling and it seems like I will just have to get used to seeing bears here! Funny about the fences though, we've seen 15 houses and only one of them had a fenced in garden. I take the point about a fence not stopping a bear though.

My realtor just told me that coyotes are more bothersome than the bears, something else to worry about- aaaaargghh

Michael

Especially if you have cats that go outdoors. I haven't heard of coyotes attacking people and if it has occurred, it is extremely rare.

Jerseygirl

I recall one attacking a baby who was outside sleeping. Cats and small dogs are food for the coyote. I also worry about a large hawk or eagle getting my little dog...she is not allowed outdoors unless she is by our side.

Michael

I used to live on a hill surrounded by a large amount of open space and a creek at the bottom of the hill and my main worry were the eagles (many were flying overhead every day) when my cat was outdoors. When someone spotted a coyote in the area, they sent out emails warning people to keep their cats in their house. The only other major concern with my cat were the raccoons but they didn't seem to bother the cats in the area except to eat their food if food was left out.

The only other annoyance was that the neighbor had a dog that they kept in on their deck during the day but he was too small to get over the top. Initially when they got the dog and my cat was going down to the creek for his daily stroll, the dog started barking and my cat quickly went to the creek. After a while my cat discovered that the dog couldn't get out so he would sit about 15' from the deck with his back turned away driving the dog crazy. Then he would go lie under a bush about 2' from the deck and that really made the dog crazy.

Jerseygirl

I hate yapping/barking dogs...and their owners for allowing them to do so.

Michael

My cat knew he was teasing the dog. The dog ran back and forth on the deck jumping up and down thinking there must be a way to get at that cat.

Sheilauk

The Bears worry me as well as we are looking to move to NY State. We have 2 Newfoundland dogs, both black and weigh 10 stone and 11 stone. From a distance I could imagine some over zealous hunter thinking they could be Bears.

Michael

I suppose that is possible since some hunters seem to think that someone wearing a red/yellow jacket is a deer.

jeffreyhy

Or that someone's arse is a duck.

Regards, JEff

Ash UK/US

That made me think of the Sears ad when she ushers in the racoon thinking it is her cat.... 'come snuggle with mama' LOL

Yorkieabroad

(To be read in best David Attenborough accent...)

....and so we have the answer to the eternal question " do bears sh1t in the woods", which would appear to be "yes unless they have somewhere more comfortable, such as Bob's FIL's truck"