Where the Sandia and Manzano mountains meet the plains east of Albuquerque lives a bear named Koshari. Tagged three times by New Mexico Game and Fish in 2005 for nuisance behavior, he’s one lucky bear.

Koshari courtesy of John Weckerle

On Friday morning I took the long way from Santa Fe south to Edgewood,  down the scenic Turquoise Trail. My destination was Wildlife West Nature Park, a zoo where all of the animals are native to the Southwest and most have been rescued after being  injured or becoming habituated to humans, no longer able to live in the wild.

The park reminds me of my backyard on a much larger scale with a different mountain range in the distance–lots of open ground dotted with pinyon pines, juniper trees, cholla cacti, native grasses, and wild flowers.

The bear habitat is the next to last one on the loop around the zoo and I found Koshari napping directly in front of the viewing window–sprawled out on his back, four paws up.

Koshari’s Habitat by P. Nixon

Named for the Native American clown (Koshare), the black bear has been at the park for nine years, since he was two-years-old, just a youngster.  He came from the Navajo Lake area in northern New Mexico where he discovered the easiest and tastiest lunches came out of the coolers on houseboats.  His life was spared with a generous donation to construct a half-acre bear habitat at WIldlife West.

It’s all about food for bears and Koshari is no exception.  He is fed a varied diet–fruit, vegetables, meat, dog kibble.  As winter approaches, like his cousins in the wild, he increases his  calorie count,  eating upwards of 20,000 a day.  Although he doesn’t hibernate he does slow down, eating much less during the dark and cold months.

Eyes still closed, Koshari rolled over on his side, swatted a pesky fly, and covered his face with a paw.  Before leaving I dropped a couple of dollars in a donation box used for special treats for the bruin–one of the few acceptable ways to contribute to the feeding of a bear.

Photo Credit: P. Nixon

A year and a half ago Dave gave me a camera trap for my birthday and over time I have gotten lots of pictures of curious towhees, startled mule deer, and the occasional coyote.

There have been numerous reports of bears in Santa Fe this year (from the Santa Fe Reporter this week: “13th bear sighting in nine days sets local record”) and I knew  bears had passed through our yard before.  Two years ago one mangled my suet bird feeders; I never replaced them.

Even though I was aware that they were around, I was still surprised to find this shot of a black bear (Ursus americanus) on my camera this afternoon.  He passed through our yard quietly on Monday morning, probably while we were eating breakfast.  It’s a little late to report it to New Mexico Game and Fish, which I did the first time.  The agent I spoke to then convinced me to stop putting out bird seed during the summer and also discouraged setting out trash the night before pickup.  He stressed that it is not good for people or the bears if they get used to eating out of bird feeders or dumpsters.   It almost always ends badly for the bear.

It’s thrilling to live close to these creatures and Elizabeth Bradfield captures that feeling so well in her poem “We All Want to See a Mammal” with the lines:

Our day our lives incomplete without a mammal.  The gaze of something unafraid, that we’re afraid of, meeting ours before it runs off.

I hope this bear has moved on–no food here–gone back up into the mountains where he belongs.