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Old 07-06-2007, 07:33 AM   #1
Undertoad
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July 6, 2007: Benign bears befriend bruin benefactor



Meet Alaskan Charlie Vandergaw. He's a friend to the bears, nursing them back to health when they're injured, feeding them, now even petting and riding them.

According to the Snopes entry found by xoB, the above was all documented by the Anchorage Daily News:
Quote:
What goes on each summer at Vandergaw's remote homestead is so far from the ordinary as to be almost unbelievable. Visitors tell of him petting black and brown bears, playing with grizzly cubs while sows stand by, sitting on bears and teaching them tricks. His own photographs show even more. They capture him easing to within feet of breeding grizzlies and nursing an injured brown bear.

A visiting photographer is amazed to see head-and-shoulder shots of breeding grizzlies taken with a wide-angle lens -- photos that would require the photographer to be within feet, if not inches, of the bears.

There are photos of Vandergaw playing with grizzly cubs while their mother lounges nearby. There are pictures of gangs of bears around his cabin, of individual bears in his cabin, and even close-ups of a grizzly's injured mouth.

It might all seem unbelievable if not for the fact that his photos are confirmed, in effect, by those taken by other photographers and by the black bear wandering around the yard.
Wildlife officials are having none of it; they say he's only a dice roll away from a severe mauling. But according to Snopes, it's worse than that, they say he's a criminal:
Quote:
As of April 2007, Alaska news sources reported that the state attorney general's office was considering bringing criminal and civil actions against Vandergaw for his continuing to violate state law by feeding wild bears.


More story and three more pics at the Snopes entry.
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Old 07-06-2007, 07:50 AM   #2
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Awesome Alliteration Announces And Adorns Extra-special End-of-week Image
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Old 07-06-2007, 07:55 AM   #3
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God, this reminds me of the Grizzly man.
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Old 07-06-2007, 08:02 AM   #4
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The bears probably see the old man as one of their own. Look at him!
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Old 07-06-2007, 08:14 AM   #5
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Timothy Treadwell not impressed.
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Old 07-06-2007, 08:14 AM   #6
TheMercenary
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Playing with fire. No different than owning a Pit Bull. All fun and games till someone gets hurt.
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Old 07-06-2007, 08:52 AM   #7
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Not completely trusting...I noticed the cattle prod prominently on display and near to hand in the last posted photo.
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Old 07-06-2007, 10:31 AM   #8
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Old 07-06-2007, 11:03 AM   #9
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Hey, there's no date in the thread title! Totally threw me off.
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Old 07-06-2007, 11:11 AM   #10
HungLikeJesus
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I thought a grizzly is a brown bear.
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Old 07-06-2007, 11:22 AM   #11
queenb
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Just an opinion but....
Cattle prod + thin skinned, placid cow = make a cow run away.
Cattle prod + thick furred, volatile bear = pissed off bear = getting your bloody ass handed back to you.
But I could be wrong.
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Old 07-06-2007, 11:32 AM   #12
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For some reason I'm reminded of the lioness taking care of the calf.
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Old 07-06-2007, 12:34 PM   #13
theotherguy
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Black bears maybe? They look alot like the ones in east Tennessee.
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Old 07-06-2007, 12:59 PM   #14
Griff
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I think those are blacks. Griz have a pretty distinctive snout. If they had a good side shot you could see the difference in body structure as well.
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Old 07-06-2007, 02:18 PM   #15
theotherguy
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The Snopes entry gives some more detail and does refer to them as black bears. There is also a shot there of him with a brown one which may be a grizzly.
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