Fred The Black Bears adventure

Written and illustrated by Brady Walsh

FACTS•Black bears have lived in North America from Canada to Mexico for 2.5 million years•There are over 600 thousand black bears in North America

Once upon a time there was a black bear named Fred. Fred lived in a forest with his friends in North America. He was surrounded with plants , trees and bushs.

It was winter and Fred hibernated in a safe cave. He had filled his belly with food to ensure he made it through the cold winter. When he woke up he went outside his cave. He noticed that all of his friends were gone and so were the trees. What he did notice was lots of buildings everywhere. He felt sad and angry as he realized that they had made way for new a rich person to build houses and shops to just make money. They weren’t thinking about us black bears. Fred was feeling scared for his friends as he didn’t know if they were dead or alive

FACTS•Black bears hibernate in winter.•Black bears have 2 or 3 cubs in winter.•Black bears are threatened by logging to make room for buildings.

Fred went to have look for food as it had a long winter. Fred would normally eat plants, fruit, insects, honey, salmon, small mammals and roots, but all he could see were scraps popping out of the bins everywhere that the humans had left behind. He tried to eat the food but people saw him and got scared and tried to shoot him. So without thinking, Fred scooted away.

FACTS•People try to sell black bears because they are because there fur is worth a lot of money•Black bears are the smallest of the species in North America and are endangered.•A lot of black bears die from getting hit by cars

Fred was still hungry and it was night time so he went for a walk. He came across white dots in a line. He followed the lines for a while and in the distance he saw two big lights. He could hear the engine coming towards him aaaaaaa!!!! He ducked. He nearly got run over and feeling frightened he ran away once again.

Fred decided to go for a swim. After he finished swimming he smelt something funny. He went to see what it was. There was blood everywhere. It was his friend Jacob the black bear who was injured. The 6 foot long, 300 pound bear with thick black brown fur had been shot by poachers and was injured. “Quick, Quick” yelled Fred, “The poachers are coming towards us with their big guns!”

FACTS•Bears are good swimmers and climers•They have a good sense of smell but a poor sense of eyesight•Black bears are afraid of grizzly bears

Fred and Jacob hurried to a different place. They thought they would move to swamp lands where it was safe to live. They moved to America where it was safer and black bears are looked after.

Facts:•Black bears are an endangered species but there is hope for them in America where their populations are stable and growing. The government has authorized poachers to stay away as it is illegal to kill bears. There are a number of different organizations that you can donate to. One web site that you can look at isJohn @johnreedfamily.com

Bibliography http:// www.bearplanet org/black bears.sht ml http://www www.bear.org /website quick bear facts http://www.enchanted learning .com/ subjet/ mammals/ bear /amblackcoloring . shtlml