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Some Panhandling Bears Are Looking For Handouts In Yellowstone National Park

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Published Date

May 14, 2019
Bears looking for handouts in Yellowstone National Park should be rewarded with a honk of your horn/Kenneth Carothers

Bears looking for handouts in Yellowstone National Park should be rewarded with a honk of your horn/Photo courtesy of Kenneth Carothers

In what might have seemed like a flashback to the panhandling days of the 1960s, a black bear in Yellowstone National Park approached a visitor's rig the other day and put its front paws on the side of the vehicle in an apparent effort to be rewarded with a handout.

It doesn't happen often these days, but when it does park staff wants you to lean into your horn until the bruin is driven off.

The most recent incident was last Saturday, when the black bear put its paws on vehicles in the Tower-Roosevelt area. A year ago a black bear previously fed by people in the Mammoth Hot Springs area approached a vehicle, put its paws on a door and looked into the vehicle’s windows, according to park staff. Also last May, a grizzly bear near Yellowstone Lake went up to a car and played with its antenna.

Bears that grow accustomed to people and view humans as a food source can become aggressive and have to be killed. For a little bear education, check out this page on Yellowstone's website.

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Comments

Submitted by Jack miller on June 4, 2019 - 7:50am.

I wish people would stop Approaching the bears like they do. If I was a park ranger I would try to stop the crazy people. 


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