By WARREN DILLAWAY - Staff Writer
PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP — A black bear must have been looking for something to wash down his porridge with Friday night along Garrison Road.
The bear sightings have officially begun.
Wooded areas that bump up against residential homes provide an interesting place for interaction between bear and man. Bears have been seen in Ashtabula County’s rural townships for years and sightings have been recorded at Lake Shore Park and even Main Avenue in Ashtabula.
One such experience occurred Friday around 9:40 p.m. when
a black bear sat himself down in the back yard of Marilyn and Bob Strubbe for a nice long drink. She said the bear stayed in the back yard of the Garrison Road home until about 10:30 p.m.
“We were sitting in the family room and my husband (Bob) said ‘Look there is a bear’,” Strubbe said.
She said the 200 to 250 pound bear just sat on his haunches and drank the bird drinking machine dry.
“We took flash picture after flash picture. (It) didn’t bother him,” she said with a laugh.
The pictures were taken from the family room window about 20 feet from the bird drinking machine, Strubbe said.
Ashtabula County Game Warden Wade Dunlap said the bear has been in the area for more than a year making occasional appearances. He said he told the Strubbe’s to remove their bird feeders for several weeks and there shouldn’t be a problem.
Anyone who encounters a bear should not try and make contact with the animal, Dunlap said.
“Obviously he’s a wild animal. You just want to stay away,” he said.
