If you live in the Northview neighborhood of West Sedona — be on the look out for the Bear Hunter.
He stands about 3 feet, is wearing an explorer’s outfit and is not armed nor dangerous. But he is curious and needs your help.
Early last week, Tonya Baird distributed flyers throughout her neighborhood and made an announcement on a social media website that her 5-year-old son, Mason, was looking to go on a bear hunt.
She asked that residents place Teddy bears and other stuffed animals in their windows so that Mason, using his set of explorer binoculars, could find them.
Mason and his mother, along with father Arthur and 15-month-old brother Holden have turned their family’s evening walks into a bit of an adventure.
“We have always enjoyed going on walks but now we’re enjoying them even more because it gets us out of the house to avoid going stir crazy,” Tonya said.
Tonya said that she did not come up with the idea of the bear hunt but rather heard about it from others and felt this was the perfect idea to help entertain Mason.
“With school closed and play dates canceled, your participation would absolutely make his day,” she wrote in the flyer.
It worked.
By the next day Mason found eight bears, four puppy dogs and an alien.
“He’s very excited to go on the walks to see what he can find,” she said. “The people [who are participating] have been very sweet. We really appreciate it.”
Not only does Mason search for animals along his nightly journey, the family also sings the song “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt,” based on the 1989 children’s picture book written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury.
Included in that is Mason’s favorite portion: “Uh-oh! Grass! Long wavy grass. We can’t go over it; we can’t go under it. Oh no! We’ve got to go through it! Swishy swashy! Swishy swashy! Swishy swashy!”
“I think we sing that about 500 times during a half-mile walk,” Tonya said, laughing.
Before their first bear hunt, Tonya took a quick drive through the neighborhood, just to see if people were participating.
“I was pleasantly surprised,” she said of the response. “Not everyone has stuffed animals — let alone bears. We appreciate anything people have done. Mason loves anything he can find.”
