Alaskan “Bear Farm”: Former Science Teacher Tamed Wild Bear!



That’s Charlie "Bear Man" Vandergaw, a 68-year-old former science teacher who tamed wild bears in Alaska by plying them with food!

Vandergaw says his relationship with bears dated to his retirement from teaching in 1985. Over the years he has fed bears, befriended bears, nursed injured bears back to health, and allowed bears inside his cabin; now it is not unusual to find several black and brown bears lounging around his "Bear Farm" yard on any given day.

If the bears didn’t get him in the end, the law may:

As of April 2007, Alaska news sources reported that the state attorney general’s office was considering bringing criminal and civil actions against Vandergaw for his continuing to violate state laws by feeding wild bears.

Link - via Spluch


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Posted on June 15, 2007 at 11:56 am by Alex
Category: Animal, Pictures, Travel & Places

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6 comments to "Alaskan “Bear Farm”: Former Science Teacher Tamed Wild Bear!"

  • Solo
    June 15th, 2007 at 2:03 pm

    Alaska has a state law that forbids people to feed wild bears?

    I’d think there was a need for a law that prevents bears to rifle through picnic baskets…

  • Hula
    June 15th, 2007 at 5:00 pm

    He obviously hasn’t seen .

  • Hula
    June 15th, 2007 at 5:01 pm

    okay so no html in the comments…
    last part of the above comment was Grizzly Man
    http://imdb.com/title/tt0427312/

  • kerozene
    June 15th, 2007 at 8:17 pm

    I dunno…if the bears are smart they won’t eat him. He looks like old mutton.

    anyway from the pictures theres 1 brown bear and the rest look like black bears. Black bears ares still going to kick your ass, but they’re less inclined to do so.

  • Lester
    June 15th, 2007 at 10:23 pm

    Brown bears are more vicious than grizzly bears… I’d be more scared of wolverines than black bears, though.

  • Bunk
    June 16th, 2007 at 2:27 am

    A year or so ago, Alaska Magazine printed a warning for those who were venturing into bear territory. The article advised hikers to wear jingle bells to avoid surprising any bears they might encounter, and to bring pepper spray just in case.

    The article continued, that it was important to recognize the difference between black bear scat and grizzly bear scat. Black bear scat is about the size of golf balls, greenish, and is usually found in a small pile near the trail. Grizzly bear scat is significantly larger, is in the middle of the trail, smells like pepper spray and has jingle bells in it.

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