Friendly bears

snopes · #1 09 June 2007, 07:23 PM

Comment: I found a feature on this guy in one of the Anchorage Newspapers. He is retired and has been FEEDING bears in his cottage's back yard for over 25 years. The bears just come and hang out and he believes them to be his friends.

WOW, good luck with that........

#2 09 June 2007, 07:58 PM

Within a year or two we will hear of him (or a member of his family) getting eaten by one of those bears. And the other family members will say something like, "But they were so gentle...they would hurt a fly....".

#3 09 June 2007, 08:14 PM

Or he could face legal action.

I can't determine absolutely whether that article is related, but it does refer to "images portrayed in the Daily News, including photos of people standing with seemingly tame bears."

Joostik · #4 09 June 2007, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug4.7

Within a year or two we will hear of him (or a member of his family) getting eaten by one of those bears.

Or just an unsuspecting passer-by who didn't realise the bears now expect to be fed by humans.

#5 09 June 2007, 10:02 PM

This guy is incredibly stupid and irresponsible. These bears or going to get themselves killed because of him.

Sis · #6 09 June 2007, 10:11 PM

Is that a cattle prod the guy has in the first two pictures?

Artemis · #7 09 June 2007, 10:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trixie Tang

This guy is incredibly stupid and irresponsible. These bears or going to get themselves killed because of him.

Reminded me of Timothy Treadwell who insisted he was helping to save the bears when in all likelihood he was doing anything but...

#8 09 June 2007, 10:24 PM

The second to last photo shows a grizzly bear!

Looks like a low electric fence around the house. Guess we know why.

Johnny Slick · #9 09 June 2007, 11:24 PM

It's also possible that the photos are real but the caption isn't. There are, after all, people who raise bears for the use in movies and so on. Are there that many black bears that live up in Alaska? I thought they were mainly found a bit further south.

cdav1313 · #10 10 June 2007, 02:42 AM

What exactly is the guy in the 3rd picture doing? Seems a little too happy.

Bonnie · #11 10 June 2007, 03:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JFB

Or he could face legal action.

I can't determine absolutely whether that article is related, but it does refer to "images portrayed in the Daily News, including photos of people standing with seemingly tame bears."

Thanks for finding that, JFB. As you suspected, the photos in the OP show interactions between ursine and human visitors to Charlie Vandergaw's cabin,

http://www.adn.com/outdoors/story/87...-8697579c.html

Bonnie "Kodiak moments" Taylor

#12 10 June 2007, 03:07 AM

Wasn't there some guy a while back who was eaten by "his" bear(s)?

ganzfeld · #13 10 June 2007, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug4.7

Wasn't there some guy a while back who was eaten by "his" bear(s)?

Maybe you mean the man this documentary is about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_Man

Morrigan · #14 10 June 2007, 03:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sis

Is that a cattle prod the guy has in the first two pictures?

Yep.

http://www.redhillgeneralstore.com/A24333.htm

Morrigan

#15 10 June 2007, 03:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ganzfeld

Maybe you mean the man this documentary is about:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_Man

Bingo! That was it. I knew I read something somewhere. THX!

So anyone want to take bets when the folks in the OP become bear scat?

Bonnie · #16 10 June 2007, 03:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doug4.7

I knew I read something somewhere.

Um, probably in Artemis's post (#7), above.

Bonnie "and it was just right" Taylor

#17 10 June 2007, 05:48 AM

I'm almost positive that I recognize the second man (the one with a beard) from a documentary about a guy who trains bears. Obviously, I can't back that up, but it seems reasonable to me (especially with the fences and the prod) that we may be looking at bear trainers with tame bears, not crazy men who feed wild bears for fun.