Meet Charlie

Nanuq907

Charlie Vandergaw lives north of here, and calls his place Bear Haven.  They've made some documentaries about his life among his bears.  Pretty remarkable stuff.
https://youtu.be/yTw7qps1WG8

Grasshopper

I remember some lady that "lived" with gorillas? and one day she was tore apart. Nice pic. but not my cup of tea.

toad67

Who was the guy who lived with them up in Alaska?

mark christian

They all look like big teddy bears, that is until they get mad and kill you with one swipe from their paw. Unless they want to play with you and take their time tearing you to pieces.

nononsense

Grasshopper said:

I remember some lady that "lived" with gorillas? and one day she was tore apart. Nice pic. but not my cup of tea.

Incorrect.

Dian Fossey’s Death (1985)

Dian had not been back in Rwanda long when, a few weeks before her 54th birthday, she was murdered. Her body was found in her cabin on the morning of Dec. 27, 1985. She was struck twice on the head and face with a machete. There was evidence of forced entry but no signs that robbery had been the motive.

Theories about Dian Fossey’s murder are varied but have never been fully resolved. She was laid to rest in the graveyard behind her cabin at Karisoke, among her gorilla friends and next to her beloved Digit.

Best.

Nanuq907

forgemonkey said:

toad67 said:

Who was the guy who lived with them up in Alaska?

I believe it was Tim Treadwell, he and girlfriend were killed by bears.

Yep, the guy called them his "brothers".  His girlfriend left the video camera running during the final attack and you can hear him telling her to hit the bear with a frying pan, shoot it, do anything to make it stop.  "Brothers" indeed.

Nanuq907

Here's a collection of videos so you can see better how Charlie lives.

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=charlie+vandergaw&iax=videos&ia=videos

mark christian

Although it has been long since been outlawed in the EU, when I first began visiting Bulgaria in the early 1990's there were still "dancing bears" on the street.

I have a photo somewhere of me petting and shaking hands with one of those bears. I won't even admit to how drunk I was. Nevertheless, the conditions for the bears were abysmal and they were treated with cruelty by their gypsy handlers. If you look at the extreme right of the photo you can just make out the extended arm of a woman who followed behind the bear with a cup in her hand for "tips." 

asop

I was thinking of "Jane Goodall".