photo by Sunday Larson

Sedona AZ (June 29, 2010) – I have a habit of naming things, like my cars, my home, my backyard birds, and squirrels and the list goes on and on.  So with this recent sighting of the bear (Editor’s note: read the Eddie Maddock story THE BEAR! THE BEAR posted on this site) in my Broken Arrow neighborhood, I decided to give this bear a name.

We’re all familiar with the “teddy bear” and at some time in our life we’ve probably all had a stuffed animal that was a fluffy bear, or maybe we’ve collected bears, or gifted someone with a soft bear.  To keep it simple, I decided that “Ted”, short for Teddy, would be an appropriate name for the black bear that has been cruising down our streets like some offbeat hiker walking through the neighborhood to the trail head and stopping along the way to rummage through a few garbage cans and get a drink of water from a backyard pool.

Someone asked me, “Why Ted, is it short for Theodore or Theodora, if per chance it’s a female?”

Well, no, I just happen to like the name, “Ted”.  It’s a strong name and it could be short for “Edward”, like Edward Cullen in the Twilight film series now showing in theatres.  The bear, like Edward Cullen, displays super human speed and agility for climbing trees and dodging bullets from the real human’s poison dart gun.  They are both dangerous and beautiful and might lull you into thinking that the taste of human flesh and blood is never on the menu.

Edward Cullen can read the mind of any regular human and I’d like to imagine that “Ted” was attempting to read the mind of all of us humans who were studying it, taking pictures of it, and chatting about its fate while it looked down from its awkward perch high in the tree.  “Ted” must have really been embarrassed realizing that a not yet 6 month old fluffy white 30 pound female puppy chased him up that tree.  Maybe he mistook her for a small white bear.

Now “Ted” is a little street savvy and has his ear tags proving that he’s been around the block a few times and is in the sights of Fish and Game, but continues to ignore their warnings just like “Bella” ignored Edward Cullen’s warnings in the movie saga.

For now, I am choosing to call this bear “Ted”, but if I find out it is a female then I’d be willing to change its name.  What do you think of the name, “Bella” if it’s a girl bear?

So if you see “Ted-a-Bella” cruising your neighborhood give it a wide berth, make lots of noise and call the police.

Lea Martin, Broken Arrow Vista, Sedona AZ for Name that Bear! 

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