Bears

Bears are part of the post-disaster landscape in which animals once managed by people must contend with predators and one another. Their appearances are brief but telling: they belong to a wilderness reshaped by the disappearance of human protection, where survival depends on changing conditions rather than human control.

Predators in a Changing Landscape

As domesticated flocks lose the protection of shepherds, they become increasingly vulnerable. Sheep stray from water, blunder into floods, and die in winter storms; meanwhile, Dogs, Wolves, Coyotes, Mountain lions, and Bears continue to prey on them. The flocks dwindle into scattered groups and eventually disappear. Bears are one element in this cumulative ecological pressure, not the sole cause of the sheep’s decline: exposure, disorientation, and the loss of human care also contribute.

Competition with Feral Hogs

The account of feral hogs presents a different relationship. Free from fences and human feeding, the hogs forage in swamps and oak woods, eating a varied diet and becoming leaner, longer-tusked animals over generations. Their boars grow formidable enough that even Wolves and Bears hurry aside before them. The passage describes a shift in the balance among animals: Bears remain part of the wild community, but no longer occupy an uncontested position among its powerful creatures.

Ecological Significance

Together, these scenes place Bears in two stages of post-human change: as predators affecting vulnerable livestock and as competitors in a landscape where feral animals become self-sufficient. The contrast underscores that the disappearance of human husbandry does not simply restore an earlier nature. It changes the conditions under which both domestic animals and predators live, and the resulting relationships are governed by new pressures and hierarchies.