Have you seen this? Smarter than the average bear

(Garrett Bros. Outfitting)


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JELLYSTONE PARK — Without naming names, there’s more than one person I work with who is terrified of bears.

I don’t fall into that camp myself, other than having a healthy respect for wild animals of any shape or size. Even though I’m not particularly afraid, I’m more than happy to watch wildlife high jinks via Internet video from the comfort and safety of my own home.

Luckily there are plenty of people doing the dirty work of tromping around nature and uploading what they catch on camera to the Internet just for me.

Canadian hunting company Garrett Bros. Outfitting is the culprit this time. They caught a black bear on video performing some hand-over-hand climbing action along a rope as he tries to get what he thinks will be his dinner, a carcass strung up in the middle of the rope.

The bear climbs a tree up to the rope and slides along fairly well, but when he gets to the carcass he can neither pull himself up enough to grab it with his mouth, nor risk hanging by one paw to swipe at the carcass with the other.

Have you seen this? Smarter than the average bear
Photo: Hanna-Barbera

He tries to make it back to the tree, but there is too much sagging in the rope due to his weight. There’s nothing left for him to do but drop with a sad thud, give the carcass a longing look and leave his dinner behind. I’m sure as he left he was wishing for a good, old fashioned "pic-a-nic" basket.

Now, all is well and good entertainment-wise (and admittedly, a wee bit scary to think about how the bear did some solid problem solving). But the frosting on the cake for the video is the two men behind the camera. Not only do they sport Canadian accents that fulfill every delightful stereotype about Canadian dialect, but their stifled giggles and wheezing, as they are completely entertained, are priceless.

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Martha Ostergar

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