It's easy to find bad news about bears. We seem to have decided that koala bears (who aren't quite bears at all) and panda bears (who are mostly if not totally herbivorous) are "good" but nearly every other type of bear is inherently "bad" or dangerous. Why is that? Because they're masterful, resourceful omnivores much like us?

In June, a black bear was euthanized for scavenging and eating the decomposing body of convicted murderer Rory Wagner. One might ask why the bear was given an immediate death sentence for eating the flesh of a man who was already dead, when the man himself had only received a short prison sentence and life on parole for his own crime. Officials said that the bear would've posed a threat because bears remember food sources. Although, it's questionable whether this bear's food choices are any less ethical than ours. 

No beast is truly one-dimensional, so in honor of all "good" bears, we'd like to open up the floor for the cute bear videos, the funny news, and the photos of the mother and the baby bear in the middle of a cuddle session. If you weren't sure they existed, here ...

Link to original article / Continue Reading...

Explore is a Sierra Club blog where individuals share stories of their personal encounters with the natural world.