Bears are out there...

Take a drive around town these days in the Union County area when it is possible, and you might see a bear out there.

The bears are a way to help make children feel a little safer during a very challenging time.

Stuffed animals are appearing in windows, and in other places, around the world as part of “Teddy Bear Hunts” for children.

USA TODAY reported on its website that the “Teddy Bear Hunts” are “uniting neighborhoods and giving children an exciting, social-distancing-safe scavenger hunt activity during coronavirus lockdowns.

“The hunts are inspired by Michael Rosen’s 1989 children’s book ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt,’ which opens with the lines, ‘We’re going on a bear hunt/We’re going to catch a big one/What a beautiful day!/We’re not scared.’”

TIME magazine shared online that “with families around the world abiding by social distancing guidelines recommended by health experts and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officials to curb the further spread of coronavirus, neighborhood ‘bear hunts’ are becoming all the rage in some areas.”

“Taking a page from Rosen’s, members of a number of communities across the globe are placing teddy bears and other stuffed animals in their homes’ windows to create a scavenger hunt-esque activity for kids who are stuck at home. 

“While taking walks or drives around the neighborhood with their parents, kids in participating communities can have some fun by keeping an eye out for any number of stuffed animals that have been put on display at other houses.

Two moms in Union County, Rebecca Middleton Nesbit and Jessi Clark Watson, posted on social media that they wanted to join in encouraging “a fun and safe and healthy local activity for our children during this tough time.”

Martha Ann Webb reported in her Anna News column for this week that Watson wanted her twins to have something to do while  they were quarantined so she asked people to put bears in their windows.

People in Anna, Jonesboro and even in the country joined in putting bears and stuffed animals in windows, on porches and in their yards. Even on a mail box with a monkey in a tree. 

Last count there were over 50 homes and businesses with bears or other stuffed animals. Young and old were joining in the safari to find the bears. 

The accompanying photographs of stuffed animals were seen last Saturday morning during a drive through parts of Anna.