Who's shooting who?

Here's one cub reporter who could bearly contain herself as she watched a wildlife photographer at work. As Dean Swartz took pictures of a black bear family in Minnesota, America, he noticed one juvenile bear watching him very closely. After about 45 minutes the bear decided to have a go as well and ambled over to the tripod. Backing off, Dean used another camera on his shoulder to carry on taking pictures as the animal investigated his expensive equipment. 

Picture: Dean Swartz / National News and Pictures

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Snow Globe Salt & Pepper Shakers

Add some spice to your table with the Snow Globe Salt & Pepper Shakers. Each set includes one (1) white and one (1) black polar bear seasoning globe. These fun salt and pepper shakers can be used for all seasonings!

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Bear falls safely from tree

A young bear, estimated to weigh between 150 and 200 pounds, had wandered onto the University of Colorado at Boulder campus and climbed into a tree.

"The bear was tranquilized by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department and it fell onto some mats that the Rec Center provided," CU Police Department spokesman Ryan Huff told the paper. "It is now in a cage and it will be relocated at a higher elevation."

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Marilyn and the bears

This photo from Marilyn Monroe's 1954 film "River of No Return," which was filmed in Banff National Park and Jasper National Park, both in Alberta, Canada, is one of the photos from the collection of her makeup artist, Allan "Whitey" Snyder, which will be auctioned by Julien's Auctions on March 31 and April 1.

You can see more of the photos here.

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Bear tongue

from Flickr, by Andreas Lem

Video: Cat vs. Bear

It's OK, the cat wins, I think.

Great bear sleeping bag

Designed by artist Eiko Ishizawa I don't think it's for sale, you'll have to make your own. (via Blame it on the voices)

Leave it to China - the ultimate in animal abuse

A recent report in The New York Times describes that a dozen Asiatic black bears, malnourished and diseased from years spent on abusive bile-harvesting farms in southwest China had been rescued. Bile-harvesting, you ask. What is bile-harvesting? State-approved farms in Sichuan province warehouse bears where holes are cut into their abdomens so that their bile could drip out to be harvested and used in Chinese traditional medicine to cure ailments ranging from headaches to hemorrhoids. China started allowing bear bile farming in the 1980s, saying it would protect wild Asiatic black bears by satisfying the market for bile with farmed products. The approved means of bile collection in China is through a permanent hole put in a bear's abdomen -- a process known as the ''free drip'' method. Animals Asia says this still causes pain and the slow death of bears. But more painful methods ranging from inserting metal catheters and rubber tubes into the bears' abdomens, which have been banned by the government, are still believed to be used in China. An estimated 7,000 bears are kept in China's 247 bile-harvesting farms, according to government estimates, but Animals Asia believes the number could be as high as 10,000. Ironically, wild bears are still poached because wild bile is believed to be better than farmed bile. Read more about bear bile farming at Animals Asia. Photo: BearDen.org

Knut gets a substitute leg

A 37-year-old man jumped into the Berlin zoo enclosure of famed polar bear Knut on Monday, scaling over a fence and dropping into a water-filled ditch at the edge of the bear's enclosure, police said. Zookeepers, who had just let Knut into his outdoor enclosure, were able to lure the bear back into his cage with a leg of beef. Police said the man was less cooperative, initially ignoring instructions to leave the enclosure. He was led away unharmed, and before he was let go, he told police that he felt lonely and that the bear had appeared lonely, too. Source: TampaBay.com

Obviously, it wasn't Smokey Bear

Investigators in Utah say a large black bear raided a clandestine marijuana growing operation so often that it chased the grower away. Deputies found food containers ripped apart and strewn everywhere, cans with bear teeth marks, claw marks and bear prints across the Garfield County camp on Tuesday. They also found 4,000 "starter" sacks of pot and 888 young plants. Source: AP

Today's ahhhh!

Bears on the attack in Russia

Russia’s bears have traditionally been a national symbol of pride and potency, mythologized in fairy tales and depicted in advertisements and on the flag of Russia’s top political party. They are as hallowed in Russia as the bald eagle is in the United States. Today, however, Russia’s bears are on the attack. Some thirty gigantic and ravenously hungry Kamchatka brown bears have already killed and eaten two men at a platinum mine in Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka region and appear to be hunting for more. People in the region have been forced to cower in their homes waiting for hunters to dispose of the animals, which can stand 10 feet tall and weigh up to 1,500 pounds. The bears are generally peaceful and feed on salmon in Kamchatka's rivers. Environmentalists argue that widespread poaching has caused a fish shortage, prompting the starving bears to become aggressive as they seek out food close to human settlements. Source: New York Times

Man rescues drowning bear

It was a site you don't see everyday in the Panhandle in Florida. A man saved a bear from drowning last week. It all started after residents spotted a 375-pound black bear roaming through a neighborhood 40 miles south of Tallahassee. Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) found the bear underneath a beachfront home. They say it was probably trying to cool off. The goal was to lure it back into the wild. So, officials used a tranquilizer dart on it. But, there was a problem. It did not work immediately. Biologist Adam Warwick, who struggled with the bear, said it tried to escaped and went into the Gulf of Mexico. It was at that point Warwick said he could see the effects of the tranquilizer on the bear. He made a quick decision. Warwick went in after the animal. The bear was about 25 yards from shore when it went into the water. Warwick said his adrenaline just kicked in. He didn't want the black bear to drown. Source: Firstcoastnews Thanks, Leslie!

Do not try this at home!

Bear spotted taking a dip at the Hard Rock pool in Orlando

Orlando police are at Universal Studios, looking for a bear seen taking a dip in the pool at the Hard Rock Hotel. abcNews reports that officers believe the young black bear is hiding out or sleeping in a wooded area on the Hard Rock Hotel property. Florida Fish and Wildlife is asking anyone who sees the bear to stay away and they're begging people not to go out looking for him. Photo: HotelChatter

A pine-y bear

Artist Richard Carpenter made this bear from "hundreds of thousands of pine needles. The pine needles were gathered off the ground, sorted, washed, trimmed and hand woven, over 8 months, in making the life size bear." From Cellar Image of the Day via Scribal Terror

Show biz grissly kills trainer

Rocky, the grizzly bear which appeared in a recent Will Ferrell movie, "Semi-Pro," killed a 39-year-old trainer with a bite to his neck Tuesday April 22, 2008. For unknown reasons, the 700-pound bear lunged at 39-year-old Stephan Miller, a trainer at Randy Miller's Predators in Action. Two other trainers subdued the 5-year-old, 7 1/2 -foot-tall grizzly with pepper spray and were unhurt. Source: Los Angeles Times

Animals in the news

***** In the Macedonian city of Bitola, a bear was convicted of theft and damage for stealing honey from a beekeeper. Since the bear had no owner and belonged to a protected species, the court ordered the state to pay the 140,000 denars ($3,500) to the beekeeper for damage the bear had caused to the hives. ***** After two years of debate, the Dutch Parliament voted unanimously yesterday to make sex with animals a crime. Sex with animals and making "animal pornography" now carries a penalty of up to six months jail. *****The government of Randolph, Iowa, has rescinded a five dollar bounty on stray cats . Instead, the town has agreed to work with animal rescue groups on a catch, neuter and release program. ***** In a bid for privacy, Leanne, the Sumatran tiger at the San Francisco Zoo, licked the video camera being used to monitor her and her newborn cub. To everyone's surprise, Leanne has three new babies, not just the one which had been filmed. The three 9-day-old Sumatran tiger cubs, all males, had their first health exam on Saturday, March 15, 2008. (Photo: George Nikitin, San Francisco Zoo) ***** Daniel J. Collins, 39, of Indiana, is being held on one count each of animal cruelty and battery and two counts of neglect of a dependent. He forced his 7-year-old daughter to kill the family cat by holding a knife in her hand and making her stab the feline. Collins told his 11-year-old son and daughter he wanted them to "learn how to kill." ***** Delta Flight 4704 was delayed more than five hours at the Des Moines International Airport on Thursday morning because of a mouse. Crews set up traps with peanut butter on board the plane when a flight attendant was too frightened to fly with the mouse onboard. ***** In Church Hill, TN, investigators are searching for whomever poured deer urine into an air conditioning unit at a school in eastern Tennessee. About a dozen students became ill after the prank at Volunteer High School.

Ungrateful bear

This bear was not too happy about being trapped. Even when the trap was opened and it was released ... See the rest of the photos at Maggie's Farm. (via)

Bear Hunt in Orland Park, IL

Truffles, a light brown fuzzy Kodiak bear that stands four feet tall has been stolen from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Orland Park, IL. The store has video footage of two teen-aged boys taking the bear hostage. Truffles was last was seen wearing a pink turtleneck, blue overalls and pink ribbons. The store's owner, Jean Kuhn, is willing to pay a hefty ransom for Truffles; "A box of chocolates or something," she said. Source: NBC5 Chicago