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subterrene's avatar

Not a brown bear family, but one time I was camping near Asheville in the Blue Ridge Mountains and I decided to walk up from the campground to see if the little dirt road went all the way to the peak of the mountain it was on. Halfway up I heard a strange almost growling noise and I thought "it's weird I can hear those dogs near the RVs in the campground." Then I saw a little four-legged shape in the woods and thought "there's a cat all the way up here?"

Then I realized it was a black bear cub, and about the time I got my phone out to take a picture, I realized the big black shape in the trees just behind it was the mama bear. It's amazing the lengths your brain will go to, to deny reality, and even more amazing how fast your nervous system yells "you gotta get the fuck outta here!" when that denied reality asserts itself.

Stranger Than Friction's avatar

I am sad about Bear 402's demise at the claws and paws of a male bear. Too sad to vote in this year's Fat Bear Week contest.

theCryptofishist's avatar

She's got a litter of four! That poor bear!

Ho͛gͦͥeͬ͒yeGr̰̻̜e̬̞̠x͔'s avatar

Bears, you say?

**sound on but maybe volume down**

https://i.imgur.com/yY78SnU.mp4

Mr Canoehead/M Tête-Canoë's avatar

I like big bears and I cannot lie

Linoleum von Curmudgeon, Esq.'s avatar

Please remember *480 Otis* as well. He did not return to Brooks Falls this year.

This brown bear Zen monk was estimated to be about thirty years old and that made *480 Otis* an Old bear. The life of wild brown bears in Alaska is not an easy life despite the fishing and the beautiful scenery.

Here's a nice eulogy for *480 Otis*

https://www.backpacker.com/news-and-events/news/fat-bear-week-otis-obituary/

Martini Glambassador's avatar

Otis was legend. Rest in peace, big guy!

Babe Paley's avatar

I love bears so much, and one of my parents' nicknames for me is Bear. I am glad I've never seen one in the wild because I don't know that I would be able to stop myself from rushing to cuddle and being killed.

When I was adopted, I came with a teddy bear that I slept with until I went to college. Even before my memory, his fur was rubbed off except behind his legs and ears. I love that stuffed animal so much you don't know!

Aquaman, Real Estate Investor.'s avatar

The adults are so big in person I was able to resist the urge to cuddle.

The cubs though are the cutest things.

Momma bear will kill you though.

LuluBean12 StarGeezer's avatar

I've followed the 3 bear den cameras the PA Game commission got to run in the Poconos over the past 6 years or so. The cubs are adorable especially once they start running around and playing. The mothers are a lesson in patience. I know my mother would have snapped way before these sows ever did. (OK she always did snap)

LuluBean12 StarGeezer's avatar

search for PA bear den videos on Youtube.

Gleep's avatar

bears are the greatest, but having seen many, many in the wild, I can assure you rushing up to cuddle them won't be something you have to worry about. Your primitive brain parts know to warn the less primitive, more cuddly prone parts of your noggin that they really are dangerous

Sherry's avatar

Smart people KNOW. Do not touch the bears but there are a lot who don’t and it gets them mauled.

Menotsure's avatar

Big bears have large asses

Their fur's a fluffy mat

The salmon from the river

They eat to keep them fat

They sometimes like to frolic

They sometimes like to fight

Tell that cold bitch Goldilocks

They always are "just right".

Thalia Is Not Amused's avatar

Thanks Martini! Bears are the best. I remember learning about hibernation in second grade and wanting to become a bear with all my heart. Le sigh...

Old Man Yells at Cloud's avatar

♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫♫

Secret Agent Bear

They've given you a number, and taken away your name

ExecutorElassus's avatar

The only voting contest I'm excited about this fall is Katmai National Park's Fat Bear competition. Will 128 Grazer maintain her title from last year? Or will FOAT 480 Otis reclaim the title????

Otis seems to have disappeared from the scene, though, and it's entirely possible that he -- at around 30 years of age, near the limit of a brown bear's natural lifespan -- has ascended to the great salmon run in the sky.

Voting closes TODAY. https://www.nps.gov/katm/learn/fat-bear-week-2024.htm

ALL HAIL

Sherry's avatar

Bear 402 was killed by bear 359 (I think that that was the one) and it was caught on camera. She has had 8 pairs of cubs so it was a huge blow for them to see. She was drowned and the male last I heard was eating her.

Antifa Commander's avatar

Wow, Survivor's gotten way more brutal than I remember.

Martini Glambassador's avatar

It's Grazer vs. 32 Chunk in the finals.

ExecutorElassus's avatar

Quite the showdown. Chunk apparently killed one of Grazer's cubs earlier this year, so this is definitely a grudge match.

Martini Glambassador's avatar

I'm Grazer all the way. You go, gurl!

X.'s avatar

Go, GRRRRRLLLL!!!!!!!!!!

Maryland Bear's avatar

Some of my best friends are fat bears. I might qualify as one myself, in fact...

X.'s avatar

That's so crazy, mine, too! ❤️🐻🥰

Linoleum von Curmudgeon, Esq.'s avatar

I too was born a bear and I will die a bear.

And people will have too bear with us bears because we cannot bear to be anything except our true bear selves.

Craig Nixon's avatar

I feel seen.

Perhaps I should give up camming.

Schmannity's avatar

Fat bear shaming

SkeptiKC's avatar

Those huggable bears are the BEST of them!

Martini Glambassador's avatar

Heck to the NO, they are celebrating the chonk!

Craig Nixon's avatar

I'mma have another Sally Field moment.

Sojourner Truth's avatar

My favorite Fat Beer is a Mickey Malt Wide Mouth.

Mysterysurf's avatar

KITTIES!

Stranger Than Friction's avatar

Sally Field, wow. I'm so glad she came forward. What a story, too! She is correct about the women in her age cohort.

Khavrinen's avatar

Don't need no intel briefings if you ain't got no intelligence, right?

Emil Muz's avatar

In theory, that can certainly be true for the GOP ticket.

theCryptofishist's avatar

OT: Another day another identity theft. It fucking sucks.

Dialectic.Detective's avatar

Here at least we shall be free; the Almighty hath not built

Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:

Here we may reign secure, and in my choice

to reign is worth ambition though in Hell:

Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.

3FingerPete's avatar

I prefer my broccoli macaroni and cheese without the maccaroni, which I contend is the Devil's pasta. Just stuff the broc 'n cheese in a chicken breast and keep your fingers out of the way of my knife and fork.

Revenant's avatar

OMG, a Republican state senator, much less one from North Carolina, pushing back against disinformation? A guy from the same organization that nominated MARK ROBINSON, the self-proclaimed Black Nazi, to be their gubernatorial candidate? One has to wonder just how vile were the rest of the candidates, that they should pick Robinson out as the best of the lot. Was he the only one who did NOT show up wearing a hockey mask and waving around a butcher knife? Granted, Art Pope has never been all that fastidious about his chosen puppets, but that reptile is off the scale. Robinson must have been the only one in the field to swear unbending loyalty to the Boss of N.C.

Emil Muz's avatar

That dude losing his mind is both aggravating and humorous simultaneously. He's probably guilty of all manner of disinformation and outright dumbfuckery in pursuit of getting the Orange Moron back in office.

ziggywiggy's avatar

"Everyone in the Tampa area is hunkering down ahead of Milton, including the animals at ZooTampa. On Monday, zookeepers began to move animals to safety well before the arrival of rain and wind from Milton. “The Zoo has a comprehensive severe weather plan in place to ensure the safety of our animals and team members and will take all precautions as conditions warrant,” the zoo said in an update on Monday evening. The zoo will be closed through at least Thursday due to the hurricane.

ZooTampa has hurricane-proof buildings where animals and team members can ride out the storm. The popular Tampa-area attraction is home to over 1,000 animals of all shapes and sizes, including elephants, penguins, rhinos, orangutans and tigers."

https://www.accuweather.com/en/hurricane/live-news/live-hurricane-warnings-in-florida-as-residents-scramble-before-milton-arrives/1700449 (this story is mid page)

DJ Teetop's avatar

Hands Off My Porn. I see what they did there. Yeah, I did.

Cincinnatus's avatar

NYT: "Former President Donald J. Trump has secretly spoken with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as many as seven times since leaving office, even as he was pressuring Republicans to block military aid to Ukraine to fight Russian invaders, according to a new book by the journalist Bob Woodward.

The book also reports that Mr. Trump, while still in office early during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, secretly sent Mr. Putin what were then rare tests for the virus for the Russian’s personal use. Mr. Putin, who has been described as particularly anxious about being infected at the time, urged Mr. Trump to not publicly reveal the gesture because it could damage the American president politically. “I don’t want you to tell anybody because people will get mad at you, not me,” Mr. Putin reportedly told him."

Emil Muz's avatar

Logan Act, what is it for anyway?

Cincinnatus's avatar

The Divine Right of Ex-Presidents spits on your Logan Act.

Emil Muz's avatar

That's not my kink, baby…😉

Shawn K. Younkin's avatar

JFC... Nothing would kill my mood more than going to a porn site and seeing either the orange traitor or couch fucker vance staring back at me.

Anzu's avatar

"Meanwhile, the Georgia state supreme court just reinstated Georgia’s disgusting six-week abortion ban while the case is being appealed."

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

All right, time to start pounding the pavement in Georgia.

Karen Scofield's avatar

I'm just lovin' me some Tab's with my coffee this morning ☕ and Hey Wonkette, you guys Rule 💯👍💙

TalentNotAutotune's avatar

Two very important questions that should be asked:

1. TO DONALD TRUMP - Are you currently vaccinated against COVID-19 via one of the legitimate vaccines that your administration helped usher through?

2. TO J.D. VANCE - Where is your wife's soul going to go when she dies and if it's not to Heaven then as a Christian, what are you doing to rectify that?

Emil Muz's avatar

I need a refresher on JV's salvation status--I don't, but since you brought it up...

I thought he was a more recent convert to Catholicism, but was his wife Hindu when they met/married and if so did she not also convert?

TalentNotAutotune's avatar

She did not convert; she’s still Hindu. And another, maybe larger question is - how about their three kids? Have they accepted Jesus, or will they? For a devout Catholic such as Vance, these are very important questions.

Emil Muz's avatar

The Jesus bit is even more important to JV's probable Evangelical relatives in Middletown &/or Kentucky (normally I wouldn't differentiate between the two places).

Sherry's avatar

My sister who works in local NC government got extremely mad at me when I sent her a post from WNC about the rumors swirling around the relief efforts. Specifically about FEMA and Coopers ineptitude. I mean I have never had her say, “fuck you. I’ll never speak of anything serious or frankly anything again”. It was bad and I haven’t heard from her since even though I was just pointing out the rumors. It really breaks my heart.

Sister Artemis's avatar

So sorry, Sherry. Hopefully as time goes on things will change, but in the meantime, take care of your broken heart and know you are loved, including by your sister, however messed up she is right now.