No lions or tigers, but they do got some bears.

My adopted home state of Indiana spotted a bear last month, and it made the papers, since it was the first time anybody had seen one here in more than a hundred years. No doubt the state's internet firearms forum has broken out in a spate of bearthread*, as arguments are waged over which magnum revolver is now a justified purchase.

Meanwhile, my old stomping grounds in Knoxville have apparently become overrun with the things. Expanding suburbs combined with being butted up against one of the largest reservoirs of black bear population east of the Mississippi creates an ideal environment for headlines like this...

Three black bears hit by cars in East Tennessee in 24 hours

...and news blurbs like this...

Authorities have captured and killed a black bear that entered a West Knoxville woman's home last week, a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency official said today.

The bear was caught after it was accidentally struck by a Knoxville Police Department car Saturday night in the Mechanicsville neighborhood, about two miles from the home it allegedly broke into last week.

"We have every reason to believe it was the bear that entered the home," TWRA supervisor Brian Ripley said.

(The Mechanicsville neighborhood, by the way, is not out in the sticks: it's right up against downtown K-town.)

The winner of recent Knoxville bear stories has to be this one, though:

Black bear scales 10-foot fence to visit Knoxville Zoo

*Bearthread: Interminable discussion threads on internet gun fora devoted to rationalizing purchase of exotic firearms solutions to fantastically unlikely problems. The Taurus Judge is the concrete, physical world manifestation of too much bearthread.