We bury bears that die on our land in the garden.

It’s not everyday that a bear falls from a tree and lays injured, panting on the pine needles. We sat looking from the kitchen window, hoping that the bear would find its feet and move on to the fallen fruit beneath the apple tree. She didn’t get up but lay shaking and panting.

Steve and I aren’t any good at shooting animals. A friend came and performed the “coup de grace”. Newport Beach has long been a haven for Black Bears. They arrive in the spring just out of hibernation to gorge on greens, spring dandelions and violets. As the warmth expands so does their territory and the bears head up into the hills leaving molding poop piles on the green. They return to Newport when the apples, pears and grapes have reached their perfect sugar content for winter eating. Many of the apple trees that grow on our land are wild and there because of the bear poop.

We carefully live with the bears, enjoying their characters, their antics and their beauty. We have never seen a bear fall from high in a fir tree to its death.

When we were building the garden four bears found their way to Newport to die. Injured they crawled and found restful ends in the forest. Because their carcasses rot with big smell and maggot abundance we decided to bury them six feet in the ground below the garden beds. Yesterday another bear found its eternal end beneath the garden. Ray arrived with his mini backhoe, scraped the top soil free and dug a six foot bear-sized hole.
As the bear lay under the tree, dead, we spent time inspecting and honouring her. Wondering of her life and how she slipped to her death we caressed the burr-ridden fur, checked her teeth out, the grey hairs on her nose and her big feet. In a moment of inspiration I decided to take a print of her foot. I gathered some berries from the mulberry tree, hawthorn bush and thorn bush blended them up and with Lorna’s help smeared the mix on the bears paws and pressed paper on them. I was hoping for a beautiful impression. The result was interesting. Messy, just like how bears are.

Despite their reputation for their savagery and aggression, bears symbolize courage, strength and power, protection, curiosity, and trust. In addition, a bear represents spiritual power, harmony in nature, intuition, primal energy, and maternal love.(from the web)

It is these energies that I like to think are being honoured when we bury the bears in the garden. And each time I walk in the garden I know that our land, family and community has been “Touched by a Bear.”

Happy Autumn