Craziest Bear Stories Of 2010: Killer Attacks, Digging Up Graveyards, Guarding Marijuana And More (PHOTOS)

Bears are heading into their well-concealed dens to hibernate, so we thought it would be a good time to look back on this crazy year of bears.

As record temperatures around the globe decimated berry crops, bears encroached on human territories, with deadly consequences. Wildlife officials had to deal with some hairy bear situations involving trees, vans, and even a milk jug. And one man was accused of using bears as guards for his marijuana crop.

Is this just a normal year of crazy bear stories? Or is something up around the globe that is driving bears to weirder and weirder antics?

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Russian Bears Forage In Graveyards For Food

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Bears in Russia are learning to open coffins and eat human remains. Officials offer conflicting reasons for why. While the Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in Russia claims that they have had plenty to eat and just find the cemeteries as easy as reaching in the freezer for a snack, the vice-president of Komi's hunting and fishing society says they are desperate for food after a record heat wave this summer.

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Bears in Russia are learning to open coffins and eat human remains. Officials offer conflicting reasons for why. While the Director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in Russia claims that they have had plenty to eat and just find the cemeteries as easy as reaching in the freezer for a snack, the vice-president of Komi's hunting and fishing society says they are desperate for food after a record heat wave this summer.

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Comments

[triplettam]

12:01 PM on 11/29/2010

The "Craziest Bear Story of 2010" was "Mama Grizzly." Hands down.

[SukiTheCat]

08:37 AM on 11/29/2010

she going to eat the bear? people do that? so gross...tragic

[SukiTheCat]

08:35 AM on 11/29/2010

what's with hunting the bears because humans are invading their habitats? atrocious

[Red45]

12:00 AM on 11/29/2010

The bears breaking into coffins and eating remains are starving. The last thing any animal wants to eat is human flesh. Fortunately for us, we taste really nasty to other animals. There are exceptions like this, one of the rare times other animals will eat human cadavers as a last resort.

[Edy Williams]

08:06 PM on 11/28/2010

they should be tranquilized & put in the many zoos for people to see these remarkable critters. So sad, as they were here first!

[Red45]

12:02 AM on 11/29/2010

Or relocated to a more wild area. I agree with you. They were here first and we treat them the way native americans were treated---we're just encroaching on their land, their part of the Earth to live on and draw resources from. Humans stink.

[SukiTheCat]

08:35 AM on 11/29/2010

truly

[arabianway]

01:04 PM on 11/28/2010

The first picture shows a cub in a bear pit. It seems to have a broken leg as well. Nothing to do with the grave robbing being mentioned. Huffpo should do more thorough checking before publishing this sort of thing.

[hauruck]

12:58 PM on 11/28/2010

Yogi Bear is my spirit animal.

[Red45]

12:02 AM on 11/29/2010

Are you a picnic kind of bear?

[hauruck]

03:11 PM on 11/29/2010

I'm more of a drag-campers-screaming-from-their-tents kind of bear, but I'm trying to be better.

[Jason Walton]

10:19 AM on 11/28/2010

How did you miss the Ole Miss black bear mascot story for this list ?!?!?

[powerhuff]

06:53 AM on 11/28/2010

OH MAN, THOSE ARE SOME CRAZY BEAR STORIES

[TruelyFedUp]

06:38 AM on 11/28/2010

How does a bear say "Population Control - Humans".

[cinemaven]

12:48 AM on 11/28/2010

The best bear story of the year was the first recorded birth of a cub in the wild.
http://www.facebook.com/lily.the.black.bear
http://www.bear.org/

http://www.bear.org/website/videos-a-more/videos-/den-cam-video-clips.html?start=120
This one shows the video of the birth on Jan. 22nd.

It was such an amazing story. Lily (the mom) only had one cub (Hope) and she was a wonderful mom for a while but then they were separated and the people keeping tabs on them had to decide whether to help the cub survive. They supplemented her food and Lily and Hope reunited after more than a month. The project brought 100,000 fans together to raise money, celebrate, mourn the loss of radio collared bears during hunting season and learned the truth about bears.

Such an exciting project and one of the most positive and up-lifting bear stories ever.

If you haven't checked it out, I can highly recommend it.

[Marla Thurman]

12:06 AM on 11/28/2010

Can a bear get trapped in a tree? I envision this contented bear being rudely interrupted by well-meaning fire-fighters.... Huge communication gap.

[llisa]

03:12 AM on 11/28/2010

I thought the same thing. It was more likely just afraid to come down with all the people around.

[Red45]

12:06 AM on 11/29/2010

They're as good a climbing down as they are climbing up---fast. Bear claws help.

[freddychef]

12:02 AM on 11/28/2010

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?rn=222562&cl=23204086&ch=&src=canadanews

oil company (embridge) know for environmental disasters wants to run a pipeline through BC, Canada's "Great Bear Rainforest", home to the rarest "White Grizzly" bears in the world.
est. population - under 500 in total.

[PlutocratsSuck]

07:40 PM on 11/27/2010

More Bear propaganda. ;)

[jennbeth]

05:56 PM on 11/27/2010

"Craziest" bear stories? Aren't you overdoing the headline a tad?

[I once had a Crysknife]

08:05 AM on 11/28/2010

Sounds like they are looking for headlines. They must have just realized Sarah Palin would never get elected and now they have no idea what to talk about.