"As a terrified employee sprinted away, it headed to the breakfast buffet and ate all the packets of honey. Another bear entered the resort’s spa and downed a three-liter jug of massage oil, while a third opened a door into a hotel hallway and chased away a housekeeper. Romania’s relationship with its bears has come undone. The brown bear — the ursus arctos — is one of the country’s national treasures, interwoven into its mythology. Villagers still host annual bear dances, a ritual that goes back to pre-Christian times, when people believed the animals staved off misfortune. Romania’s brutal Communist dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu, would flaunt his power by ordering aides to lure bears from the forest with food, then shooting them in a macabre display of machismo...."
From "The Law Protects Them. The Villagers Fear Them. Romania’s growing bear population has turned conservation into confrontation for people living in the shadows of the Carpathian Mountains" (NYT).
42 కామెంట్లు:
I planted Carpathian Walnut trees six years ago.This summer walnuts appeared. So far no bears.
Sometimes you get the bear, sometimes the bear gets you.
Help is on the way.
Boo Boo Bear's Finishing School is currently exploring private equity options for a Carpathian branch. Boo Boo's Bowtie is the instantly recognized ticket to acceptance in the internationally viable bear economy.
Stephen Maturin got Jack Aubrey out of France wearing one of those bear outfits.
Why are the bears protected by law? Sounds like another stupid liberal idea. See, e.g., Canadian forest management policy. People first!
Look for the bear necessities
The simple bear necessities
Forget about your worries and your strife
I mean the bear necessities
That's why a bear can rest at ease
With just the bear necessities of life
The bear ate packets of honey? I would think “the packet” would be in hermetically sealed plastic containers such that they wouldn’t rot and also not smell. How did the bear know? Obviously another bear didn’t know it drank the massage oil, but maybe it had honey as an ingredient, or at least another flowery smell the bear liked.
When hiking in Bear Country, always remember to never forget to hike with at least one out-of-shape, unfit companion.
Honey, massage oil and housekeeper?
Should name those three bears Yogi, Diddy and Arnold.
In college I worked a summer near Glacier National Park. We were told the grizzlies there had gotten smart enough to preel open a car door to get at the cooler in the backseat.
I think every lil town in America has a regional celebration like that where the men go out and do their traditional thing outdoors, the women cheer them and the children run alongside eager to participate. Not all the guys are always into it, but they are nudged to go along, and everybody knows there will be spirits and food afterwards....
Look at the weather. They have to get up on their feet and outside doing something communal together!
(Do you sit down when he drags you to BrewCrew games, or up on your feet dancing and cheering alongside? ;-)
"... I would think “the packet” would be in hermetically sealed plastic containers...."
Eastern Europe, man. I especially like the guy wearing the bearskin, shuffling along and smoking a cigarette.
Just encountered a (black) bear not two days ago, hiking up on our (quarter-section) mountain in far northern Calif. (hadn't actually seen any bears there before, though there has been occasional bear scat); it was quite a start to us both. I'd just arrived and stopped to rest for a minute at a ridge I was about to proceed down, when this (seemingly gigantic) bear came ambling along the “3rd [old pioneer miner] aqueduct” (which nowadays, together with aqueducts 1 & 2, provide a kind of constant-altitude walker's highways around the mountain), coming from the other direction. He didn't see me at first, so I stood up. He or she kind of jumped in startlement, then took off back the way he'd come—a bit of a relief, I must say… I didn't have to charge him with my handsaw! (Sure.) Or Swiss Army Knife.
Stalin - Nicolae Ceaușescu - Hamas - Obama loves them all.
That massage oil - yuikes. would not want to be around that bear - later.
In a recent survey, nine out of ten lions preferred bear to pet ponies.
Where all those bear skins come from?
That's the coolest thing I'll see all day.
Thanks!
Fiddle, faddle, open sesame.
Bears break into my house for my massage oil, but they’re a different sort of bear….
RR
JSM
Bears are assholes.
Those are really nice bear costumes. Has Trump got a trade deal with Romania yet?
"I see a bear coming down the street, I cross to the other side."
I wonder if they know about Bear Whiz Beer.
They're bearly dancing. Get it? Get it?
Most bears would've eaten the entire buffett including the honey. I guess this bear was on a diet.
My favorite "Smart bear" story is the Yosemite bears who learned that by jumping up and down on a car roof they can pop open the doors and trunk and enjoy the goodies.
What will become of today's children who identify as animals?
Will they remain true to their identity or put it behind them?
And doesn't it get sweaty inside those costumes?
Phil Harris made a great Baloo, but I always wondered if their are bears in India. The subcontinent isn't known for ursine species. It looks like they do have bears, but many are just glorified ant-eaters.
"Romania’s brutal Communist dictator, Nicolae Ceaușescu, would flaunt his power by ordering aides to lure bears from the forest with food, then shooting them in a macabre display of machismo...."
Notice all these adjectives used to flag the reader into knowing who the goodies and baddies are. Unlike "President Castro" Ceaușescu is a "brutal" dictator. And he didn't like hunting - he wanted to "flaunt his power".
And he didn't do what lots of hunters do, lure animals with food and then shoot them. Ceaușescu shot them in "a macabre display of machismo".
Next month I hope to do some fly-fishing, but nice to know I wont be just catching fish, I'll be engaging in a "macabre display of machismo". Makes it feel important for some reason. thanks NYTs!
Lewis and Clark had to go into Grizzley country with nothing more than flintlock rifles and muskets. Backup weapons, maybe a flintlock pistol and a knife. Grizzlies were used Bow and arrows and were quite agressive thinking Humans were easy meat.
Now that was a display of macabre Machismo at it finest.
Since I'm bearly keeping on topic, I just learned that Pandas have to eat Bamboo for 10-16 hours a day. That's 99 percent of their diet. Like other bears they are ominvores but evolved into just eating bamboo.
Ceaucescu was just carrying on the way Euro royals did for centuries, when it came to hunting.
Why did I love seeing those bear-human hybrids dancing together down the street? Maybe memories of The Teddy Bear Picnic.
"How did the bear know?"
They can learn. Bear notices in Yosemite used to include a picture of a car with the door peeled open and a warning not to leave a cooler in view.
There was a bear attack when I was in Slovakia earlier this summer. The media was hyping it up and sending people into a panic. My wife even bought extra insurance before our trip to the mountains. I wonder if this is like shark attack summer in 2001.
I guess dressing up like a bear and dancing around is not the worst thing you can do for fun.
@8/11/25, 6:43 AM Dave Begley said...
Why are the bears protected by law?....
Two reasons. 50 years ago there were few bears. People in cities far away decided that was bad. Now there are many bears but the law can't be changed since the people in the cities still don't see any bears so how many can there really be? See also Wolves in Michigan's upper peninsula
Ole Nick could have used less machismo, more Matcha
Lots of Indo-European cultures have bear clan and wolf/dog clan ceremonies involving dressing up like the animal and/or killing a few and eating them. Becoming the animal was an important part of the ceremony, especially for military success. Look for David Anthony's "The Dogs of War" to come out in 2026.
Ursus arctos is a dangerous creature and should not betaken lightly. The subspecies that lives in the Carpathian Mountains is smaller than the North American grizzly, but at 770 pounds it’s still pretty formidable. I’ve seen YouTube videos of grizzlies breaking into people’s homes by the simple expedient of smashing down the front door with one swipe of theirs paws. (Black bears are more sophisticated — they’ve learned how to open doors by taking the knob in their mouths and turning it.)
An experienced hunter told me not to try to run from a bear. They are much faster than us humans and the sight of a running person can trigger the prey instinct. I don’t know if that’s true, but my friend does know a lot about the wilderness and it certainly seems plausible.
“An experienced hunter told me not to try to run from a bear.”
I have no experience hunting bears, but I do know one should only run from a bear if one is with a companion and only if one knows for a FACT that one is faster and in better shape/more athletic than one’s companion.
If you're in bear country and don't have a large caliber weapon, then bear spray, worn on your belt in easy reach, is the next best thing. And make noise when you're walking, chances are you won't even see what is seeing & hearing you. Running can trigger a predatory response that's instinctual, bad idea. Make noise, back away slowly, don't eyeball, then walk away while keeping aware of your six.
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