Warning: NSFW language
There’s a video going around Twitter of a black bear (ursus americanus, not a hairy black gay guy) being fed by some idiots while it’s sitting at a picnic table.
The bear seems to sit patiently as one of the idiots makes it a peanut butter sandwich.
While this may seem amusing, it isn’t. That’s a wild bear, not some stuffed animal.
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For starters, that bear could have easily hurt or killed one of the idiots. And while the loss of those genes wouldn’t bother me much, after all, they’re messing with a bear, the fact that if something had happened, the bear would have been euthanized would.
Unfortunately, that’s probably what’s in that particular bear’s future anyway. There is a saying among wildlife conservation people about that very scenario: A fed bear is a dead bear.
When bears become habituated to humans, the pose a serious risk to humans. Feeding them most certainly habituated them.