Found a collection of national geographic 1976(?)-2000 something
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Easier to go mano a mano! 
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One of my neighbors has skunks in their yard.
Any time I see those guys passing by I give them the right of way, no contest.
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This place USED to be like that. I grew up in this house, in the 80s no bears at ALL in town, maybe 2-3 in the large state park, but you never saw 'em. 1989 they caught a bear a block away from me, eating stale dunkin donuts on a 2nd story deck. Well, they trapped him, tag #20, and relocated him. TWICE to the Catskills, and TWO MORE TIMES to the Adirondacks! Each time the bear found its way back to the same 100 acre plot behind my house by the next summer. FOUR TIMES. And he crossed the Hudson River (it does get shallow enough to walk across in the northern portion)!! Still thats not only a LONG distance, but to come back FOUR times? To the SAME 100 acres? AMAZING considering bears canāt read maps.
And the numbers kept increasing (development in PA?). My town is HUGE, mostly reservoirs (75%), and has had a building moratorium for over a decadeā¦ In the last few summers, I see at LEAST a bear per week spring / summer / fall. Sometimes 3-4 per week. Thursday mornings at 6am you have an 80% chance of seeing one literally walking down my road as the buffet of garbage cans goes out. My garbagemen come early, but canāt put the cans out at night between the bears and the raccoons (fun fact: bears will take your garbage bag to the neighbors yard to open it, racoons trash it right there at the curb.).
Sightings are so frequent, its nothing exciting now. Iāve even chased smaller bears away just by waving my arms and yelling (the big mommas wont even bat an eye at me and know I am not a threat).
As a kid you could have covered me in a pile of food in my backyard, and all that I would see is raccoons, possums and skunks. Now i gotta close my back door cause bears are trying to get inside. My how things changeā¦
Donāt even get my started on the coyotes, coy-wolves (larger than a coyote, supposedly crossbreeding with wolves), and even 2 confirmed trail cam photos of a mountain lion on local ridges. We have bobcats too, but they are super secretive and rare to see. The mountain lion was scary though as they ARE a top level predator, black bears donāt wanna eat you, a mountain lion DOES. Thats a SUPER rarity here, having a mountain lion in the area.
I guess being a town of 86 sq miles, with 75% being watershed and reservoirs, is becoming a wildlife preserve on its own due to development elsewhere. And Iām fine with that, as long as they donāt try to come in the houseā¦
Have you seen the size of some raccoons? There are some BIGāUNS out there!
mostly roadkill here, thankfully Iāve only ever had one dog get sprayed. First: tomato sauce does NOTHING for the smell. Second: tomato sauce WILL dye your white dog pink for a week or twoā¦
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I killed a copperhead snake a couple weeks ago, that had gotten into the house. My cat alerted me to it. It was only about 2 feet long but big enuff to scare the shit out of me.
He dead.
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Make no mistakes. Smaller poisonous snakes sometimes have more toxic venom than their adult counterparts. Not to mention they havent learned basic control of the venom glands that adults have and can inject more than they normally would.
Smaller rattlers and copperheads can give a nasty bite! Lucky your kitty didnāt get too closeā¦
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We have a dry creek ravine as the property boundary line on the back side lol lotsa snakes come up to the house. Coyotes, rabbits, deer, etc but no bear yet!
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Consider yourself fortunate! Though I know ya got some big pupsā¦
Its nerve wracking though hearing the metal on your back screen door ācrashā, and then the dog barking and growling in that āits not a good thingā wayā¦ We always wondered how protective Loki is, wellā¦ Now we know. Heās a fierce protector, I wouldnāt have wanted to be on the other end of that fight with him, I play fight, he growls, but nothing like this. I knew from his sounds, he was serious about defending his turfā¦
I guess its a sign of where I live. First thought wasnāt a burglar, it was āOH SHIT a BEAR IS TRYING TO GET IN!!ā Didnāt even think of a burglar or home invasion.
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The bears in Toronto are really friendly and only bite if you consent.
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Yeah lol cuz, in the 4+years here, only 1 person has come knocking on our door. He was met by 3 bigass dogs (rotties and pittweiler) and a 44. Needless to say he ran, not walked, off the property!
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Hey lol we were a commercial grow op and out in the middle of nowhere, so security was a big issue for us at the time.
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I have a .22 starter pistol sitting in the cabinet. Put it there after the 2009 bear incident. Hope it would scare the bear off. Shooting it with a .22 would just piss it off, and thats all I have here otherwise.
Yeah, people get wierd at timesā¦
āWhere are your glasses, I want a drinkā
āTop cabinet to the rightā
āDUDE! WTF? Why is there a pistol next to your drinking glasses?ā
LOL Heard that more than a few timesā¦
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Unless you hit him in the eye. Haha.
People think a .22 is a mini bullet. They can kill pretty dam good. President Lincoln was killed with a .22.
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Blunderbuss is where itās at for home defence in my humble opinion.
Folks everywhere know what a modern gun looks like but stare down the barrel of a Blunderbuss and your mind is 100%: āThe Fucks!?ā
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Oh it can killā¦ But the only .22ās I have here are a pair of Pre WWII, one Springfield, one Remington. And an old army service revolver that couldnāt hit a 12" plate put 2ft away. The rifles are DOB accurate, I remember pinging quarters with them at boy scout camp at 50yrds on iron sights. But that service revolver? PRAY it hits what you were shooting at.
Soā¦ Dont really want a rifle in the kitchen. And that service revolver would be a huge gamble. You want me to hit it in the eye? Iād be lucky to HIT the bear with it and almost point blank range. I swear the bullet just tumbles outta the barrel in whatever direction it wants, no regard for your aim.
Hence the starter pistol. Same sound as a normal .22, but no idiots gonna have an accident getting a glass of water hereā¦
I might put on of those in the kitchen. Itās like a pyrotechnic trombone. Or the perfect gun for kids who likes trouble, cause ya know, those kids would find ALL sorts of things to shove down that barrel and fire withā¦
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EXACTLY! This is what makes them so rad!
Kitchenware? Ammo.
Rocks? Ammo.
Catfood!? Ammo.
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I was trying to compare with bears, but in hindsight, I should have thought twice!! 
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hahhahaahah
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