I asked biologist Al Bourgeois what's going on last time I saw him. He said he'd caught a bear that morning. It's June, when a young boar's fancy... so I was expecting another story involving bird feeders or grills. I wasn't prepared for what he shared next... he'd spent part of his morning darting a yearling who'd wandered into Staunton and had been trapped inside the Lee High School Football Stadium. The bear ran himself ragged evading Staunton law enforcement officers. Al said he darted the bear and it dropped off pretty fast. Usually the right dose takes up to ten minutes to put the bear in dreamland. Black bears have amazing endurance and can run up to 30 mph so the whole thing must have been quite a [forgive me] zoo!
The young bear was then released in the national forest, it was reported. Had this bear been taken to Virginia Tech for further studies, as is sometimes done, Frank Beamer might have had a scholarship waiting!
Lynn Has More [click to read] on the Lee High Bear.
A black bear I photographed in Richmond's Maymont Park.
Rattlesnake Report
I read this morning that a man was bitten multiple times by a rattler near Dripping Rock overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. He was in pretty serious condition when someone found him. One should always remember that good wilderness has some hard edges and keep a sharp eye [and ear] for potential danger.
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