Too close for comfort

A while back, our suet feeder mysteriously disappeared and we suspected that a bear had absconded with it.  Had no definitive proof mind you, although there was some bear poop in the vicinity so I guess we had circumstantial evidence.

This morning, the new suet feeder disappeared.  I had put it out, newly refilled, at about 6:30 am.  Some time around 10:30 am I noticed that it wasn't there.  And the birds didn't seem to be able to find it on the ground so I suspected that it hadn't simply been knocked off the hook by a squirrel.

John went out to look and it was nowhere to be found.

He meandered back through the woods to see if he could find anything and decided that it must have been a raccoon.

At that time of day?  I don't think so.

Not ten minutes later, what does he see out the bathroom window?

A bear, making his way back to find more suet.  He came directly to the suet location, and foraged around long enough for me to take numerous photos of him.

This photo was taken out the window of my sanctuary.  Way too close for comfort if you ask me.

You can be sure there won't be a replacement suet feeder going up until this guy is disposed of, however we're going to manage that.  John has put in a call to our local trapper guy.

Poor birds.

First they have to fend off all the chipmunks and squirrels for their goodies, and now they have to wait out a bear.