Guess who came for breakfast in Tuscumbia – A bear!

The front door of Heath Holmes door is damaged by a black bear.

TUSCUMBIA – The morning of June 6th started out pretty normal for Heath Holmes. His house lies in a lovely wooded area  bit south of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Most mornings are uneventful. But not this one.

Holmes noticed that his front and back doors had been severely damaged by something. As the photos show, something managed to claw away a lot of wood on the front and back doors. He didn’t know what could have done all that damage, but he was intent on finding out. So Holmes called the Colbert County office of the  Alabama Department of Wildlife Management and  asked that somebody come by his house to investigate. Seeing the extent of the damage, Holmes asked if it could have been a bear. The official couldn’t be sure, but told him that he would call somebody from the Freedom Hills Wildlife Management Area to stop by and take a look.

The back door at Heath Holmes’ residence.

After the second official looked at the damage, he said that he was almost certain that it was a black bear. Evidently the bear suspected that there would be food inside the house on this quiet little circle drive. When it couldn’t get into the house through one door, it went around to the back of the house and tried the other door. The Wildlife Officer told Holmes that the bear was maybe 120 pounds and was simply looking for food. He also noted that black bears have a wide range. The ones that are spotted in North Alabama are most likely enroute between Georgia and Arkansas.

Bear damage in Tuscumbia

There are more bears in North Alabama than one would suspect, because they are so rarely seen.

Holmes contacted the Quad-Cities Daily after reading our article, just published this morning, “Black Bear Sightings Continue to Increase”.