Photo by Aaron Warlick. What appears to be a two-year-old black bear was spotted in the backyard of a Lehigh woman who said the bear was tearing several of her bird feeders.

It will be a long time before Tina Makaneole forgets what could have been a close encounter with a black bear that she discovered in her backyard.

Just a few weeks ago, another black bear came close to having an encounter with a woman who runs a dry cleaners and laundry on Homestead Rd. She had come out of her store for a break and a big black bear came running from around the corner of the building and bumped into her.

She easily backed off and got back inside the store and the bar ran across the parking lot, across Homestead Rd. next to the Wachovia Bank.

Makaneole said her close encounter came July 19 at around 1 p.m.

“Never seen a bear in my yard before, only bobcats. I live on a one-acre lot, all the lots on my street are one acre wooded lots, and my home is about four miles north of Lehigh in the Williams and 14th Street area,” she said.

But Makaneole and her boyfriend, Aaron Warlick were wondering what had been in her yard the night before.

“Some things were torn up and we guessed it to be raccoons or bobcats, but we didn’t think about a bear until the next day when we saw him out side tearing down our bird feeders,” she said.

The 50-year-old woman said she isn’t afraid of bobcats and raccoons, but bears are another matter.

“I don’t want to get close to a bear,” she laughed.

She said she called the Sheriff’s Office and they called the Fish & Wildlife office who sent someone out to investigation.

“He suggested we stop feeding the birds. I’m not gong to stop feeding my birds,” she said.

She is an Army vet with a medical retirement and her son is grown so no children are in the home and I’m not going to stop feeding my birds,” she said again.

“I’d say that bear was about two years old and when he stood up he turned and looked at us. We screamed at him and he took off running,” she said.

Now they are sure it wasn’t raccoons or bobcats the night before.

“It definitely had to be that same bear. He found food, but he was tearing down my bird feeders that we have in the backyard,” she said.

She said she has an inside cat and recently the cat has been running from window to window as if searching or seeing something outside.

“Maybe the cat saw that bear, who knows, or maybe the cat saw bobcats and raccoons. They’re all over the place out here,” she said.

She said that Aaron, her boyfriend is a hunter, but never saw a bear before.

As for the bear, Makaneole said she is not necessarily afraid, but says she will keep a lookout at night is she is outside.

“All I want is for him to stay outside. I don’t even let the cat out on the screened-in lanai anymore at night because I don’t want my cat to cause that bear to come back and claw his way through the screens.

“I don’t care if I don’t ever see a bear again. But I’m going to keep feeding the birds. They make it beautiful out here and it’s wonderful to see them feeding,” she said.