For Those Who Like Bears ;-)))

[samhexum]

Burglarizing bears raiding freezers for ice cream in Colorado homes

 

A band of burglarizing bears is on the loose, breaking into homes and cars in and around Aspen, Colorado, while searching for sweets and homing in on ice cream.

 

“They’re going after ice cream,” Snowmass Village Police Chief Brian Olson told The Aspen Times. “They’re predominantly going after sweets.”

 

“They’re going straight for the fridge,” Aspen Police Department community service officer Ginna Gordon told the newspaper.

 

She said the bears have busted into seven homes and two or more cars in Aspen this month alone.

 

Some residents are fighting back, with one would-be robbery victim punching a bear in the face Tuesday when it tried to shove its head through his girlfriend’s screen, Gordon said.

 

But that’s not all. The rogue bears have also broken into nine homes this month in nearby Pitkin County, the sheriff’s office wildlife officer told the newspaper.

 

The main culprits seem to be two juvenile siblings, police said, but they are monitoring at least a dozen of the animals.

 

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials have been trying to trap the two main instigators, but cannot seem to entice them, said Kurtis Tesch, a wildlife officer.

 

Residents are being warned to lock their cars and ground-floor windows and doors, and to bring in birdfeeders and pet food.

 

“It’s gonna continue,” Tesch said. “Until we catch these problem bears, there will be a problem.”

 

Bear breaks into car, drives downhill in Colorado

 

BOULDER COUNTY, Colorado – A “delinquent bear” had a bit of fun in Boulder County this 4th of July, and it didn’t involve fireworks.

 

The Boulder County Sheriff’s Office said a bear pulled open an unlocked driver’s doors and climbed in. Unfortunately for the bear – not to mention the owner of the car – the door closed behind the animal. The bear then worked on digging through all four doors, “but apparently butt-shifted the car into neutral.”

 

The car then rolled back and off the driveway about 100 feet down the hill, and ended up sideswiping a tree before the car came to a full stop.

 

That was enough for the car to prop a door open, and the bear left the scene of the crash on foot, or should we say… paws, in an unknown direction.

 

The sheriff’s office said the image serves as a good reminder for people to lock their cars and remove all items that might attract a wild animal in bear country.

 

Bear cub fed, used for selfies by tourists is killed by officials for becoming 'way too habituated' to humans

 

A black bear cub was shot by wildlife officials in Oregon after multiple interactions with tourists caused the juvenile creature to become too habituated to humans, according to local authorities.

 

The Washington County Sheriff's Office (WCSO) and the Oregon Department of Fish were first alerted to the young male cub's presence in Scoggins Valley Park near Henry Hagg Lake on June 4 through multiple phone calls and social media posts, according to the Salem Statesman Journal.

 

The outlet reports that the 100-pound bear, which was between 2 and 3 years old, had been fed by and used for selfies by boating crowds who flocked to the lake all week long to enjoy the nice weather.

 

WCSO took to Twitter on the evening of June 12 to warn park guests to stay away from a boat ramp that the bear was lingering near as they attempted to coax it back into the woods.

 

About an hour later, the sheriff's office shared that their attempts had been successful and the cub had "wandered back into the woods."

 

Wildlife biologists Kurt License and Doug Kitchen set out last week to trap and relocate the cub when they were informed the creature was on a nearby highway eating a mix of trail mix, sunflower seeds and cracked corn that visitors had left for it. When the pair approached the animal, it did not try to run away.

 

"It was very clear that the animal was way too habituated," License told the Statesman Journal. "With that information, it was a human health and safety risk, and we had to remove it."

 

On Friday morning, WCSO took to Facebook to share that the bear had to be killed as a "direct result of humans feeding and interacting" with it.

 

"We're sad to report that the bear was "lethally removed" by the Oregon Dept. of Fish & Wildlife on Wednesday morning," it wrote. "Unfortunately, the wildlife experts say relocation wasn't an option for this bear. We are saddened by the outcome, but leave it to the experts when it comes to these kinds of tough decisions."

 

Habituation happens when animals are exposed to the same unnatural stimuli so frequently that they eventually stop responding to it, according to the U.S. National Park Service.

 

Although wild animals should have a natural fear of humans, many that are constantly exposed to people lose their fear and stop acting naturally around them, which frequently happens in heavily trafficked national parks like the Grand Canyon.

 

When wild animals no longer see humans as a threat, they allow people to come very close to them, which can prove dangerous and sometimes fatal for both animals and people.

 

 

 

 

Man in an Alaska village charged with federal crimes for allegedly killing polar bear and leaving it to rot for five months.

 

Christopher Gordon of Kaktovik is accused of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act after he allegedly shot and killed a polar bear around December 20, 2018.

 

Gordon has been charged with knowingly taking a polar bear in a manner unlawful under the Marine Mammal Protection Act and with one count of wasteful taking of a marine animal.

 

The US Fish and Wildlife Service led the investigation.

 

Katkovik, with about 250 residents, is some 640 miles north of Anchorage.

 

Officials say Gordon improperly stored whale meat in his front yard, which attracted the polar bear. Gordon allegedly shot and killed the polar bear for trying to eat the whale meat, not to defend himself or someone else.

 

Investigators say the carcass sat in Gordon’s yard from late December until May, when a snow removal vehicle hit the bear’s body and tore off one of its legs.

 

Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, Gordon was allowed to harvest the polar bear for “subsistence or other purposes,” but not in a wasteful manner. Officials say he chose let the carcass rot, and he eventually took it to the Kaktovik dump to be burned without using any part of the bear for sustenance.

 

Gordon faces up to a year in prison and a $100,000 fine if convicted.

Edited July 26, 2019 by samhexum

[samhexum]

Firefighters with California's South Lake Tahoe Fire Fighters Association were recently dispatched to Key Marina after receiving a call about three bear cubs who had become separated from their mom.

 

By the time they arrived on the scene, firefighters found that the mama bear had already begun to execute a daring rescue plan to reunite the family.

 

Slowly, she encouraged each of the cubs to jump into the water, then swam them each to safety.

 

"The mother bear was determined to save all three of her cubs herself and ensure that they see tomorrow by continually swimming each one to safety," the association said in a Facebook post on May 3.

 

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=2816818148437545

[jjkrkwood]

[samhexum]

Alaska Airlines plane kills brown bear crossing runway

 

Only in Alaska.

 

A brown bear crossing a runway in Yakutat was killed when it was struck by a landing Alaska Airlines flight Saturday evening, The Anchorage Daily News reported.

 

Its roughly 2-year-old cub survived and no one was injured on the Boeing 737-700, which was left with a damaged left engine cowl after the grisly accident.

 

Airport personnel had cleared the runway several minutes before Flight 66 was due to arrive, state transportation spokesman Sam Dapcevich told the news outlet.

 

The workers did not see any wildlife, but seconds after the plane landed the pilots spotted two bears crossing the runway, Dapcevich said.

 

“The nose gear missed the bears, but the captain felt an impact on the left side after the bears passed under the plane,” the airline said in a statement.

 

The pilots saw the “bear lying about 20 feet off the center of the runway,” as the plane taxied to the gate about 6:30 p.m., it said.

 

“Our maintenance technicians are working to repair the plane, which will take a couple of days,” added the Alaska Airlines statement, which said the plane had arrived from Cordova and was scheduled to fly to Juneau next.

 

There were six passengers aboard the plane, according to KTVA-TV.

 

Dapcevich said officials with the state Department of Fish and Game were expected to collect the bear’s remains, which were cleared by Yakutat Airport workers.

 

Employees at the airport, which is partly enclosed by a fence, undergo annual wildlife hazard training and use pyrotechnics or vehicles to move animals away from the area when necessary, he said.

 

:(

[samhexum]

Rescuers on behalf of the Moscow Zoo have successfully captured an orphaned polar bear, first discovered and cared for by a group of kind-hearted gold miners in the Arctic.

 

The female cub was found alone on the remote island of Bolshevik in the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, one of the northernmost territories of Russia.

 

Believed to have lost its mother, the hungry youngster came sniffing about the miners’ base last year, most likely seeking food as the bear was still too young to have learned to properly hunt.

 

After catching the rascal trying one-too-many times to break into their shed, the miners began to feed the helpless animal. A mutual trust grew over the course of many months, until they had managed to tame the wild beast to behave more “like a dog,” according to rescuers.

 

“All we knew was that the cub’s mother died, and that it was months ago when it discovered the base attracted by the smell of food,” said Andrey Gorban, director of Royev Ruchei Zoo in Krasnoyars, who helped oversee the bear’s transport from Bolshevik to the rescue center in Moscow according to the Siberian Times.

 

Feeding bears isn’t just dangerous; it’s illegal — as domestication could impair the juvenile bear’s hunting skills. However, this cub had been abandoned at such a young age that it’s unlikely it would have survived without the help of the miners with hearts of gold.

 

“For right or wrong, they fed the endangered animal and through that tamed it,” said the zookeeper.

 

Even if they had been concerned, for their lives or the cub’s, there was no way to get in touch with animal experts.

 

“The workers could only get in touch with us at the end of their work stint, as they had no communication link at the base,” Gorban explained.

 

When their employment contract ended in February, the workers hurried back to let rescuers know that a defenseless cub was alone on Bolshevik without food or protection from predators.

 

“We were told that the men were leaving back to the mainland, and the cub had stayed there alone,” Gorban told the Russian news outlet. “Our only hope was that they left quite a big open rubbish site, so there was a chance that the cub could feed off it for weeks.”

 

Every polar bear counts these days as fewer than 31,000 of them are left on Earth, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

 

Added Gorban, “The shift workers saved its life, the cub had no chance to survive.”

 

 

 

 

 

[samhexum]

A Canadian black bear likely felt a helluva sugar high after guzzling down 69 cans of soda that it pilfered from a woman’s vehicle.

Accompanying photos show the sweet-toothed bruin surrounded by crushed cans like the aftermath of a teetotaler’s frat party.

“You could hear him, slurping it the whole time,” Sharon Rosel told Jam Press of Cokey the Bear’s pop blitzkrieg, which occurred last Thursday in Vancouver, British Colombia.

The Canuck had reportedly been storing 72 cans of pop in her truck that she planned to break out at an upcoming company soiree.

Her plans for a soda-filled shindig soon fizzled out after Winnie decided to sate his sugar craving. Rosel was reportedly awoken at 3 a.m. after her dogs started barking, Jam Press reported.

She looked out the window to see that the black bear had smashed her car window and was happily chugging down her massive cache of soft drinks.

Over the next half hour, the Fizzly bear would mainline a diabetes-inducing 69 cans of cola. Think a PG version of the bear’s epic blow binge from the 2022 horror-comedy “Cocaine Bear.”

“He started with the Orange Crush and eventually the last thing he got was the diet pop,” lamented Rosel, adding that the pop pillager had a unique way of accessing the containers.

Instead of opening them with his paws like one would suspect, the furry carjacker reportedly used his teeth like calcified can openers.

The Canadian said she tried to “reason with him,” but couldn’t dissuade him from his fructose-filled rampage.

“I explained to him how important the car was and that I had to go to work the next morning,” she quipped. “That didn’t seem to affect him whatsoever.”

The pop cans weren’t the only things that incurred Winnie’s wrath. According to Rosel, the animal ransacked her car, ripping the leather and breaking a window roller during its impromptu happy hour.

“Of course, white leather interior goes really good with Orange Crush,” snarked the theft victim, who hopes insurance will cover some of the damage.

Rosel explained that the following night the bear returned for seconds, but left empty-pawed

She found the attack particularly surprising as she previously considered herself well-prepped for a bear raid, CBC reported.

Due to her remote surroundings, Rosel said she never left food or trash in her car overnight but thought nothing of soft drinks as she didn’t think the critters “could smell pop through a can.”

However, that’s no problem for a black bear whose sense of smell is about “seven times greater than a bloodhound’s,” per the National Park Service’s website.

Meanwhile, the nonprofit Sunshine Coast Bear Alliance notes on its website that bears are adept at infiltrating vehicles.

“[Bears] can be attracted to the slightest aroma in your car, such as a candy wrapper or scented air freshener,” they write. “Please keep your vehicle windows closed and locked and doors locked to avoid damage and a surprise encounter.”

In a boozier version of this story in 2021, a black bear in Colorado got trapped in a car that it had broken into during an apparent attempt to nab a case of beer.

The frustrated critter ended up destroying the interior, presumably out of frustration as it failed to open the box of brew.

[samhexum]

Bear Breaks Into Connecticut Home, Heads Straight for the Refrigerator and Steals Frozen Lasagna  WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS, GARFIELD?

Read in People: 

Bear Breaks Into Connecticut Home, Heads Straight for the Refrigerator and Steals Frozen Lasagna

APPLE.NEWS

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“You can see him going from room to room, as comfortable as I am in my house,” said the homeowner

 
 

[samhexum]

Hamburglar Bear caught crashing family BBQ, feasting on 10 burgers and Diet Coke

A hungry black bear was caught on video crashing a family barbecue in Tennessee and feasting on 10 hamburgers he snatched right off the grill — then washing it down with a fizzy soft drink.

 

[CuriousByNature]

13 hours ago, samhexum said:

Hamburglar Bear caught crashing family BBQ, feasting on 10 burgers and Diet Coke

A hungry black bear was caught on video crashing a family barbecue in Tennessee and feasting on 10 hamburgers he snatched right off the grill — then washing it down with a fizzy soft drink.

 

I have a feeling this was a set-up.  The barbecue is not even on, otherwise that bear would be leaving with seared forepaws.  And now the poor bear will associate that place with food, and maybe have to be destroyed at some point.  People need to consider whether it's worth the suffering for the bear just to create a funny social media post.  Disappointing

 

[ICTJOCK]

A "beary interesting"  audience!

[samhexum]

Adorable Polar Bear Cubs Hide and Squeal Behind Their Mom After Spotting Tiny Hare

https://people.com/polar-bear-cubs-scared-of-tiny-animal-8409742

[samhexum]

This is em-bear-assing.

Build-A-Bear’s stuffed animals targeting “kidults” — with some dressed in bikinis and others wearing a Hugh Hefner-style robe while pouring champagne — has led some critics to slam the child-friendly company.

The St. Louis, Mo.-based toy company rolled out the risque accessories for their stuffed bears as part of a Valentine’s Day promotion.

The seemingly inappropriate attire also includes a black slip dress, satin robes and pajamas, leopard heart boxers and gold strap heels.

Another shirt reads the word “ZADDY” — a slang term for an attractive older man.

“Please excuse me whilst I be violently sick,” Alice Waterman-Hale, a London-based marketing strategist, wrote on her X social media page.

She told The Wall Street Journal she “wondered if they had been created just to upset people.”

Build-a-Bear CEO Sharon Price John insisted the adult accessories are to recognize the “evolution of what people want.”

“Build-A-Bear’s intention is always to be an upstanding, appropriate, guest-facing brand,” she told told the Wall Street Journal.

Founded in 1997, Build-A-Bear Workshop has become a “multigenerational” brand, according to John, with teens and adults accounting for about 40% of its sales.

The controversial accessories are part of a growing trend for a sagging toy industry that is increasingly focusing on “kidults” — grown-ups who are interested in toys for nostalgia, comfort or collecting, according to the Journal. 

Build-A-Bear’s special collection is categorized in the “Bear Cave” section of the store’s website.

It asks users to pledge that they are over the age of 18 before clicking in to the site.

One South Carolina woman got creative and outfitted a bear with a bow tie, cuffs and heart-covered boxers to create her very own “stripper bear.”

“He may be a little devious,” Kaleanne Hearn told The Journal.

“He can be a stripper on the side. But he’s still cute.”

The adults-only collection also includes a “Devilishly Pink Teddy Bear” who is seen wearing a “You Turn Me On” shirt.

 

Build-A-Bear's 'after dark' collection of horny animals sparks...

NYPOST.COM

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The toy company's new collection can be found in the "Bear Cave" -- asking users to pledge that they are over...

 

[marylander1940]

 

 

[+ WilliamM]

They are cute, especially in Alaska

But one bear can often hold off a  pack of wolves (in Yellowstone National Park)

[marylander1940]

On 10/19/2023 at 10:47 AM, CuriousByNature said:

I have a feeling this was a set-up.  The barbecue is not even on, otherwise that bear would be leaving with seared forepaws.  And now the poor bear will associate that place with food, and maybe have to be destroyed at some point.  People need to consider whether it's worth the suffering for the bear just to create a funny social media post.  Disappointing

 

 

Bear caught on video crashing family barbecue, feasting on 10 burgers...

NYPOST.COM

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A hungry black bear was caught on video crashing a family barbecue in Tennessee and feasting on 10 hamburgers he snatched right off the grill -- then...

No doubt it was a setup, a real bear would go for regular Coke full of sugar instead of diet Coke.

Edited February 11 by marylander1940

[samhexum]

• Spain sets up ranger patrol to protect villages from massive bears that were once nearly extinct

• Spain’s Iberian brown bear population, which was once almost extinct, has made such a strong recovery that a ranger patrol was set up to deter them from roaming into small villages in the country’s north.

  The regional government of Castile and Leon arranged for the patrol, which consists of nine rangers, to guard residents and their crops in the mining town of Villablino and the surrounding area, in the province of Palencia, according to a report.

  Their mission is to keep the endangered ursines secure and healthy, while enabling human residents to coexist with them.

  If locals spot a bear, which can weigh from 330 to 550 pounds and stand over 6.5 feet tall, they are asked to keep calm and call the rangers’ 24-hour phone line for assistance. 

  Thirty years ago, there were only 60 bears left in Spain, but today, the country is home to 400.

  “The increase in the bear population leads to an increase in conflicts” with humans, patrol coordinator Daniel Pinto said.

  In 2021, a team of veterinarians, biologists and mountain rangers created a satellite system to monitor the animals. 

  Once caught, the bears are anaesthetized and given a GPS collar so they can be easily located in the future. So far, rangers have captured 12 bears that were then freed far from villages.

  The increase in the bears has already boosted tourism in the area, since people come to the region to catch a glimpse of them in the wild.

   

[+ WilliamM]

No surprise

 

Wolves are traced that way in Montana.

The wolves are very popular at Yellowstone National Park 

[samhexum]

 

Unbearably dumb idea Group snatches bear cubs out of tree just to take selfies with them in disturbing clip

“We do think that the bear probably had a pretty traumatic experience.”

[samhexum]