They are not grizzlies, just a black bear sow & cub. The sow is a blond, so she has the coloring of a grizzly. They were very well behaved, as bears go. My vegetable garden is fenced in the back yard, except for a two foot space with deer netting. I don't even think she saw it, and once in the garden they couldn't find their way out, so she took the screen door off the bedroom slider and just came in and down the stairs.
I was in the office in back of the kitchen, heard some commotion and thought that Sadie had brought in a live mouse to play with. I took 2 steps out, and saw Mama bear's butt by the wood stove, and went straight back into the office & locked the door. I was trying to call John, my husband, on his cell phone to tell him to stay in the barn, but he was already on his way into the house & down the stairs. I hear "Laurie?" I say "Don't come down there's a bear in the living room, and John says "No there isn't. There are
two bears in the living room!"
Anyway he managed to sneak down the stairs and out into the garage to get the bear spray while I called 911. The dispatcher was funny: the bears had been through a yard on the other side of the river, and those people had called earlier. So when I said there's a bear in my house, she said "Oh, yes, don't go outside." So I said "yes, I know, but they're in my living room and I'm locked in my office and I really think we could use some help here."
Quite an experience. The sheriff's deputies arrived first, then Game & Fish. They tranquilized Mama bear, and captured baby bear and took them away for relocating. The whole thing took about 2-3 hours. A few broken dishes, muddy paw prints on the sofa, some scratching & lost trim on the wall--all in all no damage to speak of.
