Althouse: “I love the giant bear.”

June 7, 2020

“I love the giant bear.”

24 comments:

Inga said...: Ha, I wonder how long the poor little guy tried to convince his mom that he saw a little furry something? Good thing there was a video.; 6/7/20, 4:45 PM
Inga said...: I suppose the baby bear looked giant compared to his stuffed teddy bears.; 6/7/20, 4:48 PM
whitney said...: Kids are cute. But dumb. I think that video is a parable for what's happening in the world right now; 6/7/20, 4:58 PM
Achilles said...: Black Bears are about as dangerous as raccoons. But seeing one that close will give a start.

i.e. they aren't unless young are involved.

They are preferable to raccoons because they stay away from humans. Or they used to.; 6/7/20, 4:59 PM
gspencer said...: The Bear is available on youtube,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRg4pI8kD6o; 6/7/20, 5:04 PM
Achilles said...: Monroe, .... where?

We go through Monroe, WA fairly often. I could see this playing out there.; 6/7/20, 5:05 PM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Are we all gonna comment on how mommy let the door slam in jr's face?

Mommy might be a jerk.; 6/7/20, 5:30 PM
Yancey Ward said...: Not a feel good situation- baby bears usually have very, very dangerous momma bears nearby.; 6/7/20, 5:30 PM
Yancey Ward said...: When I lived in Newtown, CT, I had a very, very large backyard that backed up into a thickly forested area. I had at least 2 black bears in there- they sometimes sat at the edge of the woods in the back yard. I kept my distance.; 6/7/20, 5:40 PM
Tomcc said...: This is why kids shouldn't watch Disney!
Also, avoid Build-a-Bear. Makes kids complacent.; 6/7/20, 5:46 PM
madAsHell said...: I caught a coyote chasing a bunny on the security camera last week. I didn't get to see the outcome, but the bunny had a pretty good head start.; 6/7/20, 6:14 PM
David53 said...: Bears are great, until they are chewing on your skull.; 6/7/20, 6:20 PM
Big Mike said...: Black Bears are about as dangerous as raccoons.

Until they aren’t. It’s just as dangerous to get between a black bear sow and her cubs as any other bear. Some idiot planted apple trees in a campground in Shenandoah National Park and my son and daughter-in-law went for a weekend camp out at about the same time as the ripe fruit started falling. Consequently the camp site was full of black bears getting easy meals. One woman was trapped in a stall in the ladies’ washroom when a bear wandered in after her. She would disagree with you about the dangers of a black bear! Son and wife decided to drive to our house and “camp” in our guest bedroom, which is less rustic but at least a bear won’t follow either of them into the guest bathroom.

Q: Why do park rangers at Shenandoah National Park recommend you carry bells with you on a hike?

A: To scare away the black bears.

Q: Why do park rangers study bear scat?

A: To retrieve their bells.; 6/7/20, 6:27 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “ Not a feel good situation- baby bears usually have very, very dangerous momma bears nearby”

Agreed. It is very rare to find baby bears without finding the momma bears right around the corner. And the momma bears are most often the dangerous ones, esp if you get between them and their cubs.

We were living in the mountains west of Denver, and talked to neighbors who had kids. And they told the story about one of them, along with one who lived in our house, before we did, both about 8-9, finding a berry patch. Kids were surprised to find that they shared it with bear cubs. Went home, told their parents, and weren’t allowed out without supervision after that.

My theory on the aggressiveness of mother bears is that male bears, in particular, are cannibalistic. Baby bear is considered a delicacy for them. At least with brown bears, mothers will apparently successfully take on males twice their size to protect their cubs.; 6/7/20, 6:36 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “Q: Why do park rangers study bear scat?

“A: To retrieve their bells.”

Except around here the question is how do you tell brown bear scat from black bear scat? By the bear bells in the brown bear scat. We do have both, though the brown bears tend to stick to the ridge to the north of us. The NFS campgrounds have posters up that show how to tell them apart.

Around here, I carry bear spray, and a holstered G20 loaded with 220 grain solid cast bear loads, when away from the house. We are close enough to town that we would hear about brown bears if they came in close, but we do have black bear living around the subdivision I just bought. Plenty of both pre-venisons and turkeys to keep them around. Haven’t seen any fresh bear sign yet this year, but did find a completely stripped deer skeleton that wasn’t there last year not that far from the house.; 6/7/20, 6:51 PM
gilbar said...: I suppose the baby bear looked giant compared to his stuffed teddy bears.

a giant bear the size of a small bear?; 6/7/20, 6:57 PM
Wince said...: I wonder if, like Andrew Sullivan, he’ll one day also have a column spiked by NY Magazine?; 6/7/20, 6:59 PM
mikee said...: I have the distinct honor of having had a momma black bear charge at me, when her cubs wandered too close to the trail my family was hiking. It was that moment which solidified my understanding of what it meant to be a father, as I realized my only job was to stay between the bear and my daughter behind me. Fortunately, despite the impressive rush down the hill, the momma stopped 20 yards away and the cubs scampered back towards her.

I won't tell you about the moose I once surprised on an overgrown trail. I was just glad to be wearing my brown pants that day.

Nature is fun.; 6/7/20, 7:44 PM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Black Bears Matter

...and stop telling them they're cute!; 6/7/20, 8:22 PM
TickTock said...: One on the strongest evidence it have personally witnessed that testified to the divorce of most Americans from reality occurred a few years back while driving in Yellowstone. I saw two Bear cubs running for their lives down the side of the road pursued by 6-8 tourists, cameras in hand. Unfortunately I was headed in the other direction and thus never saw what happened when cubs (and tourists) found momma.; 6/7/20, 9:39 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: My grandfather had a momma black bear charge ala Bruce Hayden, while on his deer stand. She didn't back off. Unfortunately for her, he was old school, used 180 grain round nose in his 30.06 semi-auto. Made a nice rug though.; 6/8/20, 5:18 AM
Rusty said...: Probably collecting for something.; 6/8/20, 5:33 AM
Todd said...: Live in central Florida, lots of bears. Wife had a "stand off" with a mamma bear one night. She was getting ready to let the dogs out (5 pounders). Went outside by the pool to open the screen door so they could go into the yard. Security lights came on and there were two cubs walking through the yard. Dogs started barking and mamma come running out of the shadows. The only thing separating my wife and dogs from the bear was a screen. Mamma bear was head butting the screen and wife was holding screen door closed (she doesn't even know why she did that, bears can't open screen doors, they go through them) kicking the bear from inside and the dogs are barking. She screams for me, I come arunning just in time to see the a$$-end of mamma bear disappear back into the shadows. Was not a terribly big bear, 125 pounds or so but even small bears can do a LOT of damage.

Was/is not uncommon to see bears around and we typically take care in spring but this one caught her by surprise. Luckily no one was worse for wear.

Have a work-acquaintance who's wife was attacked by a male bear a hand full of years back, near where we live. She was walking their dog down her street, in a fairly large subdivision. It damn near tore her entire face off. Had to have multiple surgeries and a few years to recover.

You don't want to mess with bears...; 6/8/20, 8:38 AM
Tomcc said...: A mǿǿse once bit my sister; 6/8/20, 11:47 AM