Black Bear Research Paper

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Having a wild black bear as a household pet is an extremely bad idea due to their many odd characteristics. Most people are used to having a dog or a cat, but bears are so different than them. First of all bears are very curious animals and when they want to explore something, they will do just that, explore. Ben Mikaelsen, the author of the article “A Bear in the Family” adopted a black bear, Buffy, 13 years ago. He quotes, “He is so mischievous. One day Buffy, then 6 years old and 400 pounds, sneaked into the house while we were gone. For an hour, he sat in our bathtub tearing down the shower curtains and biting open every bottle of shampoo and conditioner he could find. He even turned on the water and smeared some toothpaste in his armpits…show more content…
Bears are also messy and disgusting. For instance, “With a piece of candy in my mouth, I blew gently into Buffy’s face to watch his nose twitch. In a blink, Buffy snaked his long tongue to the very back of my throat. He licked my tonsils and stole the candy” (Mikaelsen 65). Not one person would want to have a bear sticking his tongue down anyone’s throat. That is literally disgusting! Lastly, along with being messy, bears are very dangerous. Mikaelsen writes that, “Last summer, Buffy stood behind me and wrapped his huge forearms around my arms and chest. When I told him to get down, he laid his ears back and squeezed harder. I stomped on his hind toe. He bawled and grabbed the hurt toe, dancing in circles on the other hind foot. Then, standing to his full height, he roared in my face” (Mikaelsen 65). Imagine witnessing a pet bear almost suffocating someone you loved and then roaring in their face! That would be extraordinarily scary. People never know what they are going to do next. Bears are not like a cat or a dog who can be house trained, and fed very little. Bears are very expensive! For example, “We spent $25,000 to build a sturdy chain-link pen around two sides of our
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