THE BEAR FACTS

Good friend Tom and his wife Erin bought a cottage three years ago in the Kawarthas. Once a city loving lad, Tom has now fully embraced the perks and perils of living on a small lake near Coboconk.

However, from the content of this recent letter to his cottage association, it sounds like the perils have taken the upper hand of late.

Hi all,

Just wanted to pass on this info. We came back up to our cottage yesterday at noon. Some family from Pennsylvania arrived at six last night. We went to bed at 11pm. Our son and his wife were on the pull out couch in the living room. We have crank out windows at our kitchen sink. I left them open about three inches for some air over night. At mid night my son Matt woke up hearing loud noises. He went in the dark to the kitchen and turned on the light. He found an adult black bear with both front paws on our kitchen counter and it's left hind leg on the window frame.

It had pulled the window off its track so that it was now wide open. Then it clawed off the screen and pulled the blind outside before coming in. Our son was two feet away from it when he put the light on. He and the bear froze for a second and then my son started stamping his feet and clapping his hands The bear slowly lowered itself back down and outside. My son ran down the hall to get his shotgun from his bedroom closet where our guests were sleeping...he's a registered gun owner and collector. His wife watched the bear head up our driveway and in front of our garage. My son went out with a flashlight and his shotgun and watched the bear proceed from lot to lot...going up in lot numbers. 

We did report this to the bear hot line with the MNR. They were grateful for the information. They are concerned that this activity was really aggressive, even for a bear. Please keep an eye on your pets and kids, while you keep your other eye out for the bear!

Tom Butash


Thank goodness no one was hurt. It could have been so much worse. And Tom, please forgive me if I don't take you up on your open invitation to visit your cottage until sometime in late November.