Friday, May 16, 2008

Bears in Chesterfield?

Call me crazy but I know a bear when I see one---I think. Driving westbound out Rt 711 (Robious Road) right at the Chesterfield and Powhatan County lines I first noticed in the early morning hours this morning in the little drizzle of rain about four or five dear darting across Rt. 77 about forty or so yards ahead of me moving from the river side of the road across Rt. 711 and into the woods.

What I did not expect to see about thirty seconds later was a bear roaming the field on the same side where the deers had crossed the road. If you have ever traveled Rt.711 you know there is virtually no place to pull over as the road rides up right along fence lines and treelines but it was a sight. The Bear could not have been more than a few years old and was mostly likely in search of food but have never seen any this far east.

I wish i had my digital camera along this morning as I headed out west and knew that the picture phone would not make the distance the bear was. My only guess is the bear was heading to the creek area that the bridge right at Winterfield covers Rt.711. The remarkable thing is now there are homes at Founder Bridge and below the County line all along Rt. 711 that five years ago probably were not there.

Bears in Chesterfield.

My global warming friends will certainly say as they always do that this just proves the impacts of global climate change. Afterall, its not such a leap from polar bears and the ice cap to brown/black bears in Chesterfield (snark).

2 comments:

James Young said...

Wouldn't surprise me. Pennsylvania Game News used to publish road-kill statistics by county. I vividly remember picking up a copy in 1989 and seeing that one bear had met his demise that way... in Philadelphia County.

And yes, that is the City proper.

Anonymous said...

Two other sightings reported on the news today but in different parts of the County. A single bear could not have traveled twenty plus miles in a single morning so there may be something going on with this.