The Man Who Feeds Wild Black Bears | Bear Crime | BBC Studios

sam and vince shooty are old friends sam is a wild black bear he started raiding vince's cabin in minnesota many years ago he was hungry after a poor berry crop and began stealing to supplement his diet vince started to feed him and he's been back for handouts every year since vince extended the favor to other struggling bears sam is now one of many that realize they're on to a good thing and come back year after year many years and several bear generations later vince's backyard is overrun with expectant diners in autumn as many as 90 bears gather from miles around and demand to be fed volunteers need to stay on their toes a single quick witted bear could mug them and steal the lot at this time of year bears need 20 000 calories a day the equivalent of 50 burgers hundreds of tourists turn up every day to witness the spectacle it's a unique chance to see wild bears up close and personal but is it right to hand wild bears their food on a plate have we turned these bears into a circus act and should we really be encouraging bears to become this obese unlike humans bears can never be too fat they're adapted to cope with massive fluctuations in weight with no long-term health problems one thing that does change is their need to hibernate many of these bears continue feeding long after bears relying on wild foods are forced into their dens the real problem is that these bears have learnt to associate people with food so if the sanctuary ever closed most would head straight from the nearest town and would probably be shot with our romanticized view of nature we prefer to watch bears in the wild but bears don't know the difference certainly these cubs will make no distinction between town and country or burgers and berries you

Channel: BBC Studios

Views: 419,269

Keywords: BBC, Bear, Crime, Animal, Nature, America, Food, Wild, Black, Bears, Free, Video

Id: RB9uzMjiYSQ

Length: 3min 20sec (200 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 05 2008