Mailbox loses fight with bear

HUBBARD -- A black bear went a little nuts Saturday night, tearing up a homeowner's mailbox in an apparent misguided search for food, city police said.
A resident in the 200 block of Maple Leaf Drive called police about 10:40 p.m. and reported seeing a large bear. The caller said his dog had been barking, and when he looked out a window he spotted the bear.
The bear then moved next door and began tearing up a neighbor's mailbox along the street.
"He apparently thought it was a bird feeder," a police dispatcher said.
Responding officers spotted the bear and watched it before it headed northwest across Pine Lakes Golf Course and disappeared in the direction of Hubbard Township, police said.
The sighting was not unusual for that area, about a mile east of Liberty city limits, police said.
A bear was spotted three times in the past week in Liberty. Police believe the bear may have been the same one seen in the fall.