Probably something like this:




Link to original video: https://youtu.be/WmnqaRKxeMg

Part of me says "Awwwwwwwwwww"

The part of me that's more than 6 years old says "Nope, nope, nope..."

I don't think that guy weighs 1,500 pounds.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/0...share-the-video.html

Man Cuddles 1,500-Pound Bear (and Lives to Share the Video)
By KATIE ROGERSJAN. 12, 2016

After a video was posted to Facebook that showed a man attempting to cuddle with a Kodiak bear, over 11 million people had a logical response: Click.

Presumably, because human-bear encounters are not known for ending well, these millions of viewers wanted to see what happened next. Whatever they were expecting, it was probably not a love fest between 59-year-old Jim Kowalczik and a 22-year-old bear that Mr. Kowalczik raised from an injured cub into a 1,500-pound, 9-foot-tall pet.

In the video, the bear, named Jimbo, licks Mr. Kowalczik’s face while giving him a literal bear hug. Mr. Kowalczik reciprocates with a loving back rub. As you do.

This video and several others were posted by the Orphaned Wildlife Center, a rehabilitation center in Otisville, N.Y., that Mr. Kowalczik, a retired corrections officer, and his wife, Susan, 57, formally started as a nonprofit in 2015. The footage posted by the group provides a rare and intimate glimpse at an animal that is best viewed at a distance.

Jimbo, also called Jimmy, is one of 11 bears that live at the 100-acre facility about two hours north of New York City. Jimbo and the others were brought in as cubs suffering from injuries that rendered them unable to survive in the wild, Kerry Clair, a director for Orphaned Wildlife, said in an interview on Tuesday. Along with bears, the group rehabilitates horses, deer and squirrels. But this is not a zoo: Since the main goal is to rehabilitate the animals, the public can’t visit, Ms. Clair said.

Continue reading the main story
“Our primary purpose is to release these animals into the wild,” Ms. Clair said. “We only keep them if there’s some problem.”

The bears that remain on the grounds are as friendly as Jimbo, she said, because they were raised by humans from an early age. The downside is that once they become close to humans, they cannot return to the wild.

In many ways, the scene at Orphaned Wildlife goes against nature. First of all, it is a rare communal living situation for an animal that normally travels alone. The males and females are separated, but the members of the group, comprising Kodiak bears, brown bears, Syrian brown bears and a black bear named Frankie, all roam near one another.

Not found in the wild is a bureaucratic process involved in rehabilitating the animals, starting with obtaining a wildlife rehabilitation permit, which the couple has, according to Mr. Kowalczik. Different types of bears require their own licensing through different government agencies — black bears are licensed through United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and brown bears through the Department of Agriculture, Mr. Kowalczik said. There are also unannounced inspections two to three times per year to check on the welfare of the animals.

At this facility, the bears do not need to do any hunting. During their most active months, they can eat 25 to 30 pounds of food in a day. Getting to know a bear means getting to know its dietary preferences and dining behaviors, Mr. Kowalczik said. Some prefer vegetarian meals, while others like meat. Some of the more careful eaters will balance an apple on one paw so the fruit does not roll in the dirt. They all enjoy peanuts (they prefer unsalted varieties), and spit out the husk afterward.

And perhaps the most jarring difference is simply observing how close the bears get to humans, and how playful the animals are.

“You can go in and lay down with him, and he’ll pull you right in,” Mr. Kowalczik said of snuggling with Jimbo and other bears in a winter enclosure. (Don’t try this in the wild.)

As far as personalities go, some bears are brighter than others, he said — “just like people.”

Ms. Clair acknowledges that bear-human interactions are known for taking disastrous turns. She said that what the Orphaned Wildlife employees do is very different than what someone like, say, Timothy Treadwell, a bear activist whose fatal mauling by a brown bear became the subject of Werner Herzog’s 2005 documentary, “Grizzly Man.”

“We have a relationship with the bears,” Ms. Clair said, adding of Mr. Treadwell, “he was essentially trying to forge a relationship with a pack of wolves.”

Mr. Kowalczik said that the bears were like “children” to him, and he likened the risk to crossing the road and getting hit by a car.

“But I don’t think crossing a street gives back as much as the love you get from these animals,” he said.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
I don't think that guy weighs 1,500 pounds.

Me thinks the Orphaned Wildlife Center is going to be in the news for a different reason one day.

AFAIK, they've raised them all from cubs. I think they handlers will be fine.

quote:

Originally posted by lastmanstanding:
Me thinks the Orphaned Wildlife Center is going to be in the news for a different reason one day.

Reminds me of that guy who spent a ton of time with the bears in some national park in Alaska. He was convinced that he had a special relationship with the bears and that they accepted him as part of their surroundings. And they tolerated him and his interactions...until they didn't...then they ate him.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
Reminds me of that guy who spent a ton of time with the bears in some national park in Alaska. He was convinced that he had a special relationship with the bears and that they accepted him as part of their surroundings. And they tolerated him and his interactions...until they didn't...then they ate him.

That was the Timothy Treadwell that they talk about in the article posted above.

I like the end where the one bear is looking on, and the other bear turns an basically says "he's mine"

And those were wild bears. Also he did that for years until he rolled the dice one too many times. And the time he did seven out was not when he was trying to socialize with the bear. He was in his tent with his GF and the bear (old sick and starving) just attacked.

In point of fact, regardless that it turned out badly, what Treadwell did was pretty amazing.

quote:

Originally posted by 1s1k:

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
Reminds me of that guy who spent a ton of time with the bears in some national park in Alaska. He was convinced that he had a special relationship with the bears and that they accepted him as part of their surroundings. And they tolerated him and his interactions...until they didn't...then they ate him.

That was the Timothy Treadwell that they talk about in the article posted above.

1500 pounds. Cue the bear defensive handgun thread in 3.... 2..... 1!

Maybe he has a .454 Casull hidden underneath that jacket

Raised from cubs or not, snuggling up to an un-tameable apex predator is not on my bucket list.

I couldn't (bear) to watch the video, but you don't get a scope on the size of a grizzly, until you see them with an adult human, as in the OP thread.

I only wish for good things to the people and bears.

It appears the bear does not have teeth.
Anyone know for sure?

The snuggling bear has some nasty claws.

quote:

Originally posted by kimber1911:
It appears the bear does not have teeth.
Anyone know for sure?

He does, check out some of the other videos of Jimbo.........also has some HUGE claws.

quote:

Originally posted by asonie:
Raised from cubs or not, snuggling up to an un-tameable apex predator is not on my bucket list.

They can be tame for 25 plus years but it's in the 5 minute span when they forget they are tame that's a bitch.

quote:

Originally posted by kimber1911:
It appears the bear does not have teeth.
Anyone know for sure?

Oooooh, he's got 'em, alright.

Awesome videos. I don't have the nerve to try that, but man, you wouldn't have to worry about burglars! "Oh, you got a Rottweiler in your house? I got a Kodiak in mine. No, really, we had to move to a house without a basement, the floor joists couldn't take it. "