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Marty the Bear emerging from the Dashukewich family's deck.
Courtesy of Vincent Dashukewich
Marty the Bear, the social media famous black bear living under a Plainville family's deck, may now be gone for the season.
Vincent Dashukewich said that as of March 16, the family had not seen Marty in four days. He said they presume that Marty is on his way now, as this is the longest they have ever not seen him, and the weather was causing him to stir as of late.
The large black bear quickly rose to internet fame after the Dashukewich family discovered the him hibernating under their deck in Hartford County and made the animal an Instagram and a Tik Tok, deeming him Marty the Bear.
Since the initial discovery of Marty, Dashukewich said that the bear and his family coexisted; the bear would sleep, steal the neighbors' garbage and occasionally pop out from under the deck and the family would simply go along with their own lives. Dashukewich recalled a time his neighbors called his family and said that Marty had fallen asleep on their trampoline and had broken it with his weight, but otherwise, all neighboring homes lived peacefully with Marty nearby.
The internet grew more and more invested in following Marty's activities, and @marty_the_bear now has over 13,000 followers on Instagram who frequently comment well wishes for the black bear. While there were some people that claimed the family was disturbing the bear, Dashukewich said overall the online community was more than he could have ever believed, and he was amazed at how Marty's influence stretched beyond Connecticut.
"The reach has been insane, just the fact that we have gone as far as we have," Dashukewich said. "I have people from the U.K., Australia, just everywhere saying 'Oh my God, I love Marty. He's so cool.'"
Now, four days without Marty, Dashukewich said his family's household has mixed responses to what may be the bear's farewell. Dashukewich hopes this will not be the last he sees of Marty.
"I'm upset. I hope he comes back next winter, just for all the fans and everybody that wants to hear about Marty with updates," Dashukewich said. "It would be cool for him to return every year — but we'll see."