Ohio’s ‘wandering bears’ signal a possible comeback for the species

A black bear and cub share a spot in tall grass off a road within Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2017. Two other cubs were playing nearby.(Mark Thiessen / AP)On a warm night in mid July, Brandan Smith heard a sound outside his house in rural Coshocton. Curious, he opened his door and walked outside. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he saw a large, hulking figure in his driveway, rummaging in the bins and boxes he’d readied for trash pickup the next day.“I immediately turned around, went back inside the house and slammed the door,” Smith recalled. “That image of something huge spooked me. And it just kind of dawned on me: It’s a bear.”Certain that no one would believe him unless he had proof, Smith grabbed his phone, gathered his courage and went back outside to capture a video.“Sure enough, the bear was still there, eating garbage,” Smith said. “I’d just gotten done cleaning out the deep freezer, and it was into the old freezer-burned ice cre