Black Bear Hunting photo
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This recently published video of a black bear in New Jersey is remarkable not because it took place in the most densely populated state in the country, or because the guy in the blind shooed it away, or even because of the questionable choice of music he set the video to. What’s remarkable is that even though this bear is big enough to drag off any contestant on The Biggest Loser who’s hiding a Snickers bar in his pocket, there is still a group of people in New Jersey who feel that Garden State residents should love their bears in, apparently, the way they do their own children.

It doesn’t matter that New Jersey bears have trampled people to get at food, eaten their pets, and destroyed bee hives, porches, livestock and the like. The group BEAR (which stands for “Bear Education and Resource;” their intention is to educate humans, not the bears) promotes the idea that black bears–even sows with cubs–are harmless.

The organization points out that Dr. Lynn “the man who walks with bears” Rogers has “routinely tagged black bear cubs in the presence of their mothers and no one has ever been seriously injured or killed.” The reason, according to the site, is because “Unlike grizzly bears, mother black bears do not defend their cubs against people.”

Aren’t you relieved? So the next time you look out your window and see a bear upturning your barbecue grill, or tearing apart your bird feeder, or chowing down on your terrier, don’t think about all the people who have been killed by black bears over the years and the hundreds of others who have been injured. Instead, you should just shake your head and chuckle. Perhaps you’ll want to bring your kids outside so all of you can play with it. Because that poor bear isn’t really a powerful and unpredictable wild animal.

It’s just misunderstood.

(So, apparently, is Dr. Rogers, who had his research permit yanked by the Minnesota DNR earlier this year because he “contributed to the habitation of black bears in northern Minnesota and promoted the animal in an unprofessional manner.”)