Black Bear Encounter

Horse racing today - the Travers Stakes; professional football today - Eagles and Broncos playing other teams.    Most exciting thing in the last 24 hours - turning a corner in a backyard and finding myself (almost) face to face with a juvenile black bear.  It was less than five feet away from me - good thing it wasn't another human, 'cause it would have looked at me like I was nuts...  I pointed at it, and said, "Bear!" in a high-pitched voice.  It turned, ran and leaped up to grab the top of the 6-foot tall privacy fence, the gate actually, swung itself up and over and disappeared.  I retreated back into the house.
   The bear was reported to me by my friend earlier yesterday morning.  I had sent out a neighborhood alert, letting folks know that a young bear was near the corner of Agate and Emerald Roads.  It was seen in three different yards, and had destroyed the bird feeder systems in two of the yards, plus raided a garden.  That was about 9:30 yesterday morning.  I had no idea the bear had spent the afternoon in my friend's backyard when I went over to feed the cats and dog, and to walk the dog.  The cats kept staring out into the backyard, before, after, and during their meal.  When I walked Tess, she reacted strangely near the garden gate, but I knew the bear had been there in the morning.  When I put her in the house, she started staring at the back window, and she barked a few times - which is pretty unusual for her.  So dumb me, I decided to take a look.
  I walked out into the open backyard area and saw nothing - other than the wreckage of the bird feeders and the wrought iron stakes, staffs, and holders.  Then I walked along the back of the house, and paused at the corner of the garage.  Then I took a step forward, and the bear and I were looking at one another.  I was barefoot, and I stand about 5 feet 1 inch high.  The bear was about three inches shorter than me, and no where near as broad as I am.  I'd estimate that it weighed about 100 pounds.
   What is silly is that I went to the front of the house, where I had parked the car.  The bear was sitting beside the car.  As I approached, the bear ran to the neighbors' house - which was where I was going.  When I pulled into the neighbors' driveway, the bear ran back to the first house, and climbed the gate into the backyard once more.  The neighbors and I chatted, and then I left to care for more critters.
   Before I went to bed last night, there were reports that the bear was last seen running across a front yard on Topaz Drive.  I hope it went back to the Open Space and Mountains.  We'll have to see what happens.
   Because of a late freeze and heavy rains, the usual bear menu is not available in our local foothills.  They don't have their normal supplies of natural foods in their normal habitats.  We've had at least 6 bears in Boulder in less than a week.  The Department of Wildlife has warned us that we will be sighting many more bears before it's time for them to hibernate.  I hope everyone out there is careful about their pets, small children, and that their garbage is safely locked up.