CUB 6-PACK: Greg Ambuske thought he knew quite a bit about
bears, but was bowled over last week when he saw a mother bear with
5 or 6 cubs, all of which appeared to be this year’s offspring.

At about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Greg saw some activity on his
ground-level deck. The lid had been taken off a near-empty seed
barrel. Two cubs were inside, two on top. Not far away was the
mother bear and two other cubs.

“I saw seven bears,” he said, noting he had his glasses on and
was not indulging in alcoholic beverages.

Eventually, he flipped the lights off. When his Brittany
growled, he turned the lights back on.

This time, two cubs were standing up with their paws on his
grill. Not far away, three more cubs.

Each of the cubs, Greg reports, were healthy looking and frisky,
weighing about 30 pounds each.

Despite seeing the large brood with his own eyes, Greg admits he
himself was skeptical about the large numbers. He knew it wasn’t
unheard of to have a mother bear adopt orphaned cubs, or to
continue to nurture the previous year’s cubs along with the fresh
brood.

The sight sent him to the Internet for research where he learned
that it was normal for a mother bear to have from one to six cubs
each January. Definitely, it was possible to see a mother with five
of her own cubs from that season. In many years, there is a
relatively high infant mortality and so many may be born but few
make it out of the den.

This bear, by the way, is not a stranger to the neighborhood.
She has walked around in broad daylight many times. About every 10
days she comes around, possibly on a food circuit.

In any case, Greg remains stunned by this “amazing” story.

BELLY BOX: Here’s a first for Round the Square: a Control Chief
sighting.

Mike Bell writes from Shinglehouse: “Did anyone notice the
Control Chief ‘Belly Box’ controller used in the opening scene of
the last episode of NCIS? I’m a former employee of Control Chief
and was very excited to see one of our local products displayed on
national TV. The show started with a grandpa who ran a junk yard
giving his grandson the control box to crush a car. Very cool.”