‘Morbidly obese’ bear seen in North Carolina becomes butt of pandemic internet jokes
A photo of one of North Carolina’s black bears is getting national attention after U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists suggested it was fat in a Facebook post.
Words like “tubby,” “chunky monkey” and “humdinger” have been used, and wildlife service officials went so far as to suggest the bear could hold its own competing in a fat contest with much bigger Alaskan grizzlies.
More than a few people have also likened bear’s physique to what many home bound Americans will look like after the nation’s COVID-19 lockdowns come to an end.
“Despite this example, black bears are the smallest of North American bear species and weigh less than a pound at birth,” the Fish and Wildlife Service said on Facebook.
Several people came to the bear’s defense, suggesting it is pregnant or the photo was taken before it went into hibernation.
Not so, the wildlife service says. It’s a male and the photo is recent.
“How did he get morbidly-obese? Does he live in the woods behind a McDoodle’s or Windy’s?” asked Jules Starling-Savant on Facebook.
“I think he’s been in quite a few fast food restaurant dumpsters,” Debbie Mazur Van Dusen wrote.
“Change the face and it’s a hippopotamus!” Rene Langlois said on Facebook.
Black bears are supposed to be skinnier when they emerge from their winter dens. North Carolina’s bears hibernate for a much shorter period than bears in the northern part of the country, the wildlife commission says. They often go into their dens as early as November and stay through late January or early February, the commission says. In some rare cases, they stay through April, biologists say.
Colleen Olfenbuttel, the black bear and furbearer biologist for the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, told McClatchy News the bear could weigh “over 700 pounds.” On average, 700 pounds is about as big as black bears get in the state, though the all-time state record is 880 pounds, according to the commission. Grizzly bears can get to 900 pounds in the western United States, according to BearsoftheWorld.net.
So what happened in this case?
Beverly Bowe Meekins has an idea. She says she took the photo April 18 at the Pungo Unit of Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge and the bear was “clearly” enjoying leftover corn in a field harvested in the fall. The coastal refuge is in a remote part of the state, spread across three counties near the Albemarle Sound.
“I was able to catch him as he made his way to the woods to sleep for the rest of the day. He’s definitely one of the most rotund bears I’ve ever seen at this refuge,” she told McClatchy News.
“He would walk for a little while, then stop and lie down to nibble on some more leftover corn, then get up again. But once he crossed the canal (where I was patiently waiting), he made surprisingly good time crossing the other fields that led to the woods.”
This story was originally published May 11, 2020 at 4:52 AM with the headline "‘Morbidly obese’ bear seen in North Carolina becomes butt of pandemic internet jokes."