2009.10.14
Raynelle Lankford sees bear on Mount Chestnut Road
We've been sharing reports of bear sightings around Southwest Roanoke County. The latest comes from Raynelle Lankford, who tells us:
It was very interesting reading your article about bear sightings in Southwest Roanoke County last Friday. I live at 6263 Mt. Chestnut Road and we have had bears on our street. A couple of weeks ago, my neighbor called to advised bears had gotten into our trash cans which had been left up at the street for garbage pickup on Tuesday morning. We had to go and clean up the trash from our yards and the street. Apparently the Mexicans who work up at Valhalla Winery had seen them and called my neighbor, who in turn called us. That didn’t bother me too much although picking up trash early in the morning before going to work wasn’t fun. The real scare came on Wednesday morning at 1:10 a.m. on October 7. I have two schnauzers that started barking and running through my house. I first thought there might be deer in the yard. When the deer hear my dogs barking, they usually go away. My dogs didn’t stop barking and I finally pulled myself from the bed. I went to the bathroom and looked out the back window. There sitting under my bedroom window was a large black bear. He had turned over my garbage can, had pulled out the trash and was eating. I got my husband up and went to the kitchen to turn on the back light thinking that would scare the bear away. It didn’t. He looked up toward the back door and continued eating. My husband finally started beating on the window and he then left. We all went back to bed and haven’t seen him since. My husband has been pouring ammonia over the trash to keep him away. We also heard that on Thursday last week, several garbage cans on the back side of Mt. Chestnut Road had been turned over by bears.
Well that’s my bear story. I hope he doesn’t come in my back yard again as I fear for my dogs and my family. It worries me that they would come so close to a house and not be scared of barking dogs or lights being turned on.
Have you seen a bear in Southwest Roanoke County? If so, let us know at news@swo-co.com.
OTHER BEAR SIGHTINGS IN SOUTHWEST ROANOKE COUNTY:
* Oct. 13: Judy Hensley once saw a bear in Canterbury Park
* Oct. 1: Lisa Lauria sees bear in Fairway Forest
* Sept. 22: Richard King shares photo of bear rummaging in trash can on Kings Chase
* Sept. 2: Leslie Terry sees bears in Fairway Forest
