Imperiled Bears

A small black bear's footprint, slipped in mud or snow, at a glance could be a barefoot human's.

The bear bowls gave voice to my despair when a small black bear that had shared the cornfields where I walked was shot during hunting season by a young woman. The bear weighed only 125 pounds.

The death of this bear personalized for me the threatened species status of the polar bear.

The bears in my bowls are spread-eagled and vulnerable, poised watchfully on confined edges of white slip brushed over a dark clay body.