I hit a black bear with my car this morning. [View All]

[Danger Mouse]

I was driving to work this morning on Route 44, which is a major stretch of road, don't ya know? Anyway, there I was, minding my own business, when suddenly, A BLACK BEAR RAN OUT IN FRONT OF MY CAR.
Yes, one of these:


It was relatively small, probably a juvenile. I had only a split second to react. I slammed on the breaks, but I heard the dreadfull THUMP and say the bear haul ass in the opposite direction. I was in a complete whirl...confused, frightened, and amazed, I had never even SEEN a black bear in the wild, let along hit one with my car!
On closer inspection, the damage was minor. It turns out the bear had run head first into the side of the car. Fortunately for me AND the bear...a head on collision probably would've damaged the car and bear quite a bit more. A passing motorist commented that the bear seemed fine...so I felt better about that.
The insurance adjuster took it with a sense of humor, he'd never had a claim for a collision with a bear before, and I had to laugh, because it was kind of surreal.
A little bit later, I called the state police (there happens to be a trooper barrack in the vicinity, just down the road as a matter of fact). They weren't too interested in the bear, they just wanted to know if it was dead so they could remove it. As far as I knew, it wasn't, so that was it.
I still can't believe it happened. I count myself lucky. A black bear, even a small one, is a very solid and heavy animal, and the damage to my car could've been extreme, and of course, I don't want to kill a bear, either! I hope at least the bear learned not to run out onto a busy road! He's probably got a splitting headache, poor thing.
Anyway, that's my story.
Thought I'd share, bout my encounter with a bear.