Certainty: Where Does a Bear Sh**?

Fresh Bear Poo, about the size of a small cantaloupe

When I was growing up (not so long ago and still growing) we used two expressions to indicate certainty. “Is the Pope a Catholic?” and “Does a bear shit in the woods?”.

The Pope, the latest one anyway, is certainly a Catholic. And he is a simple Christian man as well. I think he knows exactly WWJD, and does his best to do it. I like the guy. Now about the bear.

Certainly most bears shit in the woods. But where they roam the streets of Lanark Village they most definitely shit anywhere they want. So maybe we should change the old certainty to “Where does a bear shit?” You know the answer. Just outside our gate in Lanark (Gulf Terrace actually) yesterday sometime just before 9AM we saw a large black bear walking down our street, quite far from our gate. No sign of poop anywhere in sight. Later in the day, around 3, we returned to find the pile pictured above right by the gate. In fact, not far from our dog Millie, lying on the other side of the gate. If only she could talk. From the size of the pile, the wetness of it, the feel and smell, it was very recent and deposited by a large animal. Probably the one we saw earlier just coming back down the road.

So I know at least one bear who doesn’t shit in the woods. (just kidding about the feel and smell).

Image: Bear Pile at the Gate at Lanark.