Although Stephanie St. Germain calls her cat all sorts of nicknames, like Toblerone and Tobilicious, Toby is currently meowing to tell his owner just one thing. “Who’s out there, Toby?” Stephanie asks after the cat runs to the edge of the deck and meows at the backyard. There seems to be a visitor hiding in the bushes, which Stephanie’s other cat, Marty, seems to confirm. “Is there a bear out there?” Stephanie asks after Marty jumps out of her arms and focuses his attention in the same direction Toby was looking. “He gets all sketched out from the bears.” Before Marty and Toby see if there is a bear visiting today, Stephanie shares the story of the bear who showed up on the first day she moved here. “I looked up and the bear was right there at the apple tree,” Stephanie says, pointing towards a back corner of her yard. Stephanie was afraid at first. But when she realized she was a respectful distance away and the bear seemed indifferent to her, she watched in awe as it climbed into her tree and took a bunch of apples. “It was so delightful,” Stephanie says, smiling. “And the novelty still hasn’t worn off.” Bears regularly brings their babies into her backyard to hang out and take the fruit off her trees. “It’s just this magical (place),” Stephanie says after showing multiple videos of bears and their babies in her backyard. “Look where I live. It’s amazing.” But it didn’t stop there. While the bears and their babies didn’t bother the cats, the cats started befriending the deer who also frequent the yard, inspiring Stephanie to feel like a Disney princess. “I’m Snow White,” Stephanie says, laughing and showing multiple videos of the cats spending time next to the deer and the animals leaning towards each other to touch noses. “All the woodland creatures come to me.” That couldn’t be more different from when she and her son lived in a bigger-city neighbourhood filled with gang violence, which made Stephanie feel more like a Disney princess’ nemesis. “I was probably (acting like) the Wicked Stepmother. I was kind of rage-y (because) people were trying to shoot each other up in the ballpark where I spent the weekend with my son,” Stephanie says. “And then I come here and I’m Snow White and frolicking and happy.” And now she’s listening to Toby and Marty meowing, telling her what she can now clearly see is a bear reclining on a branch in a tree. Eventually, the bears and their babies wander into the backyard and play around the fruit trees, while Stephanie, the cats and the deer observe from a safe distance. “We as people can’t seem to come together,” Stephanie says. “But I see evidence every day in my yard that everybody gets along and there’s never any strife.” Perhaps, Stephanie says, if different species, both domestic and wild, can spend years sharing one space together, we can find a way to turn what seems like a Snow White fairy tale into a real-life happy ending.
