Our Loch Lomond Bear

When we lived in Brechin, Scotland, we took many trips around the country looking for adventure. One of our trips took us to Loch Lomond Safari Park. We had our four year old with us and thought she would enjoy the animals a lot more than the castles we tended to drag her to. When we arrived to the bears, we laughed at the bears surrounding the ranger tower while the ranger inside was throwing out what looked to be orange peels. We drove on, and shortly we saw a big, brown bear sitting at the side of the road. We stopped to take pictures. He came right up to my window, which was very exciting for all of us. He then moved to the front of the car and sat. We would have like to move on, but there was a sign right there that said "no horn honking". Ok, we waited patiently. Our child was jumping in the back seat yelling, "Daddy, daddy, look at the bear!" Then, front paws went on to the hood of the car. By this time, we were getting a little nervous. The park ranger was still feeding the other bears and couldn't see our predicament. The sign still said not to honk the horn. We sat and waited. Then the back paws came up. Now, we were more than a little nervous. It was no long fun. Front paws went onto the roof of the car and the bear started eating the moulding on our windshield. (Guess orange peels weren't good enough for him). Panic was setting in, but we were afraid to honk the horn. We didn't know what that might make the bear do. When the back paws started going up the windshield we knew we had to do something. That bear would have been in the car with us if he got on the roof! So, my husband popped the clutch. The bear slid down the window, down the hood of the car, and landed in the road. He gave us a very dirty look, and walked away.