a bear story

so it was 1pm - too hot for anything but panting.... then a humongous roar and lots of bear yelling in house 2.... Olly (one of the biggest males) backs out of the den followed by Moggy ( a tiny amputee who is the terror of house 2) - she backs him out across the enclosure roaring and snarling until they got a tree between them.... they then stood up , Olly did some token mouthing and snarling somewhere in the air above her head (she reached his belly) and then slunk off.... job done Moggy happily sat down in some long grass and started browsing then wandered over to the pool for a swim....
meanwhile about 5 other bears in the dens had been woken up and came outside to see what was going on, when they realised it was Moggy they all retreated...
words must have been said inside the house because then Zebedee came charging out and chased Moggy (yup she sprinted on 3 legs) until they had a tree between them.....(for those of you who don't know bears have a very complicated behavioural system and one way they reduce real aggression is to place something between them - then both parties can bluster and roar all they like - the loser is the one that leaves first) - both bears snarled and growled, it was hot so they sat down, they'd been running so they started panting, but neither would give in - 10 minutes later Zebedee had laid down but was maintaining his position.... Moggy sat there defiantly
Meanwhile the other bears in the house were free to come out and swim....

longwinded I know but fun...
the bears in the photo - Bubu (the bear in the background going WTF?) a very special 10 year old with heart and joint problems
Zebedee on the left - his muzzle is deformed as it was smashed by a piece of wood when he was a cub - he was then caged for years and had his bile drained.... we've done what we can but he only has a few teeth left
and little Moggy on the right - truly a monster but I love her dearly - she was one of the first bears I worked with here 4 years ago as a volunteer
oh and it is a tree in the middle but it has a metal guard around it to stop the bears from killing it....

this is a late blip as we've had another village party - my last bear blip for 4 days as off to Hanoi in 5 hours for some physio sessions... and yes I am healing well and feeling positive and can't wait to get back to work next week
night blippers