Since establishing my compost pile in the woods of Petra, this particular Maine black bear has made a habit of visiting it nearly every day; usually at night, but sometimes at other times of the day. People often think of bears as predators who survive by chasing down moose and deer, but eighty to eighty-five percent of the Maine black bear's diet consists of vegetation, with other common menu items including ants, grubs, caterpillars and other crawling things. Although a black bear is capable of taking down a young moose with one swipe of its powerful paws, they are not efficient predators. Most of the meat that is included in their diet is gained from animals that were already dead before the bear got to it. When they kill, the victim is usually one of opportunity and chance. If a rabbit or a rodent is unlucky enough to come within easy reach of the bear, then the bear may take advantage of his good fortune. There is no record in history of a Maine black bear killing a human being in the wild. There is one example in the early 1900s of an Ellsworth man being killed by a black bear, but he had entered the cage of a bear on display at his gas station.