Four baby bears and their mama were in our front yard today!

[young_at_heart]

It was cool in the early evening and we had the front door open. I heard some "rustling" in the nearby trees and thought it was the neighbors' dog. When the rustling became fairly loud I walked over and saw a small bear and then another and finally, four of them. They appeared to be eating the top leaves of some small trees. They walked down our driveway with Mom leading the way and onto the neighbors' lawn. They looked very thin and I am worried that they won't make it----very sad situation.

[barbtries]

1. wow

bears in your yard! i still get excited when i see a deer, or a beaver. are you in a rural area?

[young_at_heart]

2. Asheville---the mountains have been home to bears for a long time

Our newspaper has said that because of the heat the bears are more active. We live only about five miles from downtown and there are homes all around us but we are also not too far away from undeveloped mountain land. We had to take down our bird feeders.

[MadAnne]

3. About 40 miles from you, we had

to take feeders down also. Thankfully, we had a little rain this week. The berries on the parkway look like raisins.

[unc70]

4. We probably saw the same bear family earlier this summer

We also saw a mother with four cubs a couple of months ago. The were in the woods about 15-20 feet behind the house we were visiting. She sent the cubs up a tree for about an hour; they were around the yard for about two hours total. Got some great pictures.

I think it likely that it is the same family because having four cubs in not very common. The drought is probably putting a lot of extra stress on this single mom with four little ones. Hope you get some rain and there are plenty of acorns, etc. this fall.

PM if you would like to swap pictures.

[young_at_heart]

5. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures!

It all happened so fast and by the time my husband had the camera they were walking down the driveway. Were you in the north Asheville area when you saw them? I hear you about the rain----we are desperate! By the way, Mom and the cubs were out again yesterday, (across the street this time).

[unc70]

6. Here is a good video shot by a neighbor

While we took a lot of similar video and still pictures the same morning as this neighbor, he put his up on youtube and also had a feature on WLOS, too.

Here is a link to the neighbor's first video from that morning -- it links to several more:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=98ZpCao7xDI

The sound in the background is all the cicadae that emerged early this summer. This was all in the Beaverdam area.

The WLOS video keeps moving around, but you should be able to find it by searching for WLOS bear

[young_at_heart]

7. A great video----definitely the same bear family

Thank you so much for posting this---I've sent it to family and neighbors and they all love it. We live approximately 1/2 mile due west of that area. We haven't seen them lately---hope they are OK!

[wishlist]

8. I'm glad the apples are abundant this year since berries were small,dry

Where I live in East Asheville, we often see fox and raccoon but no bears so far this year on our road, unlike most years when they have been frequent visitors. Our critters are feasting on the apples on several trees in the area that are loaded. I have seen several apple trees with broken limbs from the weight. I haven't been up on the Parkway this summer to pick blueberries but last year at Craggy they were very small due to the drought and this year was the worst I have ever seen for local wild berries due to the extreme drought.

[unc70]

9. Mother and 4 cubs seen recently -- appear in good shape

Family members have seen the mother and four cubs several times recently. They report that they appear in good shape and well fed. They are becoming part of our extended family.