Today (Sunday) just a little after 12 noon a fairly large bear walked through our neighborhood and my property. I live on Green Hill Road near Sturgeon Mill between Occidental Road and Graton Road. This picture is of the bear walking down my driveway taken today from the deck of my house -- and also a close-up of the same image.
The bear walked up my driveway, then down, then back up again and into the woods on the south side of my property. It sat on a stump in the woods for quite a while before heading up the hill toward Occidental Road. The bear was seen by four people on my property and also others in the neighborhood.
Fish and Game was called by one of my neighbors and they came out and apparently said that this area was rural enough for the bear to be okay, and for people to try not to give it food sources such as pet food or compost so it will wander away. They apparently said if it gets aggressive there would be no choice but to euthanize it, which would be a real shame.
How wonderful that this magnificent wild creature is in our midst. I really hope it will be okay. We've had some wild boar come through our neighborhood, and I've heard of sightings of mountain lions in this area. But in my sixteen or so years in Sebastopol I have not heard much about bears being around here. However, there may have been other times, and perhaps others, particularly "old-timers", might be able to tell us.
Scott