This is a short story from the book, “The Professor – Chronicles of a University Life” by Alex Cook (pen name of Clyde Burnett) for publication by Outskirts Press.

    Last week, one of our professors from Mathematics, Emily Blodgett, came in to the lab, all distraught, to ask Prof's advice. On the previous evening, about dusk, she had a visitation by a big hungry black bear. He quickly destroyed her hummingbird feeders and then took apart her arrangements to attract chickadees with sunflower seeds. Then, still hungry, he had removed the door to her storage shed and had rather sloppily indulged in more birdseed. Emily had witnessed most of this destruction and was relieved when the frantic behavior of the neighbor's dog had unnerved the bear and he decided it was "time to say goodbye".

    Her complaint to DOW was not sympathetically received. "Of course, the bears are especially hungry this time of year in preparation for hibernation. Anything edible, or anything that just smells interesting, will be consumed by them. The resultant mess is not only inconvenient to you, but possibly fatal for the bear - we would be forced to kill the animal if he persists in this behavior. Clean up your act! Do not leave any food or garbage accessible to them."

    Professor Blodgett was confused and frantic as she approached Prof. "I feel like a prisoner in my own home. I've been violated! I want to live in harmony with the birds and animals. Isn't that what you have been advocating?"

    Prof attempted to share her discomfort."Oh my! I am embarrassed.  Our views of harmony need to be reexamined. Obviously, destruction of your property has not been harmonious. Killing all such animals is not a pleasant solution either. Remember, the bear is very simply a creature attempting to survive. He isn't doing this to be malicious. I take it that you didn’t much care for Mr. Bear’s table manners though. But, really! It’s hard to be polite when you’re awfully hungry, or just in a hurry. You want a good example; invite me over for dinner sometime.”  

Emily interrupted, “You’ll have to be awfully sloppy to match that bear’s performance!”

“Famous last words, Emily!” Prof continued with some cautionary words, “Now, one has to admire a being with such intelligence, strength, and exquisite sense of smell and hearing. He should be given respect; perhaps you have seen the Denver videos of the Polar Bear cubs Klondike and Snow, and of the Grizzly cub, Kootenai. Their exhibitions of strength and violence, in addition to their cuddliness, were impressive; one can imagine their potential as adults. Remember, these are basically wild animals; and they are bigger and stronger than you!”

     “With a bear, possession is the ultimate law. Never attempt to retrieve the food that the bear has, in your view, stolen from you. But you are presumably somewhat more intelligent; it is your obligation to manage the situation so that the extremes mentioned earlier do not occur. This has to be the operational definition of harmony.  We can then have some enjoyment of this coexistence. We will be able to share the habitat with some awareness of each other's presence. We can traverse each other's territory to secure artistic photographs, or to search for grubs. We’re not likely to compete.”

“Now, I hasten to qualify this; Grizzly Bears are not likely to tolerate humans in their territory. But remember, all these large creatures are wild animals; they may not always conform to our customs of civilization. But there is also a lesson to be learned from human society. There are elements here who blatantly disregard the rules of civil behavior. Any rogue animal, wild or otherwise, must be considered a potential threat when our territories overlap.  Fortunately, both Black Bears and people can usually be content with coexistence, provided we do not act to invite the bears into our personal space - or kill them to demonstrate our superiority. These are the measures of our intelligence and humility.”

Emily was now somewhat pacified, but resigned to make some changes to her garden management. “All right, Prof. I’ll try to be tolerant of these wild visitors but it’s been a shocking experience! Now, I could be more successful with human visitors; would you like to stop by for dinner on Sunday evening? Bring a bib!”