ttempel's Favorites

"The bear that ate the chickens.

"For years I had 3 big hens. Fat, pretty and friendly, the kind that let you pick them up and layed an egg a day. They were in a secure coop ( I thought!) A bear managed to find a weak place where it was wired together and got in and ate them. Nothing but feathers left.........a trail of them going across the field. I had the coop rebuilt using panels of chain link fencing. Someone gave me 7 young chickens and I tried again. This time he found a small opening near the roof and got in. I showed up to feed them in the morning and he was in the coop. I yelled and he climbed back out with a chicken in his mouth. He ran and climbed up the tree and ate that chicken (except for the feet).

"I took the picture while waiting for help to be sure he didn't go back and get the last 2 chickens. He didn't eat any of the feet! Now the coop has chain link panels across the roof too. That same bear is around often. He has a regular route that he takes to avoid the dogs."

• Tracey Tempel

Observation and photo by Tracey Tempel, sent to nature@nhm.org.