by Amelia Emery

Created on: January 08, 2011

The relationship between bears and humans holds a special place in history from the bones of bears found at primitive human homesteads to the thousands of stories, myths and tales where bears are the main character or a featured element.  Children will often play with a Teddy Bear at some point or watch cartoons such as Yogi Bear where bears are perceived as just another funny or docile creature that is there for our amusement.  Some people go as far as keeping a bear in captivity and treating it like any other pet.  Our culture has created an image that bears are friendly animals that make us laugh and can be cuddled with.  So, why can’t bears and humans live happily together in a close living environment?

Bears are wild animals that have the instincts and strength of a powerful predator.  Bears are also opportunistic omnivores which means they will eat anything that is presented to them that they can get their claws into.  This is why bears will start to get used to humans if they are being fed regularly.  From the bear’s point of view, all it cares about is getting an easy meal while exerting the least amount of energy possible in obtaining it.  People who feed bears believe that they are helping the bear by feeding it and that the bear is becoming tame.  The truth is, the bear is just getting accustomed to a free lunch and will keep coming back for this reason only.  Take the food away and the bear will lose all of its docile nature and become aggressive, destructive and potentially deadly.  There have been accounts of people who thought the bears that they were feeding were their friends only to become the bear’s next meal. 

Bears raised in captivity are not domesticated.  Although some bears that have been raised by humans since they were small cubs have been kept successfully, this is unusual and does not mean that any bear will adapt to living in close quarters with a human family.  The children’s book author, Ben Mikaelsen, was successful at keeping a black bear in captivity for over twenty years but only because the bear was very well kept and allowed to be a bear.  Bears that are expected to behave like dogs or horses or any other domesticated animal will be very unhappy and will become dangerous very quickly.  Even bears that are used in film and television have been documented to turn violent and unpredictable on their trainers or whoever is nearby.

As one of nature’s most beautiful and revered animals, bears should be allowed to remain in their natural habitat with little to no human interaction.  Bears hold a special place in human folklore and literature and on Earth in their own habitat and that is where they should stay, not in a house or backyard.

Sources: http://www.benmikaelsen.com

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