A lady in Highland Lakes, New Jersey, has an odd—and probably harmful—relationship with the black bears that dwell within the woods close to her dwelling. Susan Kehoe is a self-proclaimed environmentalist and animal advocate. She’s been concerned in an ongoing marketing campaign to ban bear looking in her dwelling state, and she or he’s wound up in courtroom on multiple event after rubbing hunters and wildlife managers the unsuitable method. Kehoe claims to have a singular understanding of black bears and says she’s been accepted by the native bears “as a part of their clan.”
Don’t consider her? Simply take a look at this video of Kehoe sweet-talking a small black bear in her personal home.
The video was uploaded to YouTube on Oct. 5, and it seems to be filmed by Kehoe herself late final month. It exhibits a cooperative black bear that steps throughout Kehoe’s threshold earlier than grabbing the doorknob with its mouth and shutting the door.
“Are you taking part in video games with me? Huh?” Kehoe asks the bear after it pushes the door again open with its paw.
Upon nearer inspection of the door itself, a paw-sized chunk of paint within the backside left nook appears to be like pale, as if it’s been scratched and rubbed off over time. Clearly the 2 have been by means of this train earlier than, and this bear is clearly habituated to people. It would seem cute, however by treating the bear like her pet, Kehoe is placing each herself and the bear in peril. This conduct is the precise reverse of the New Jersey Division of Environmental Safety’s suggestions for protected coexistence with wild bears.
The final deadly black bear assault to happen in New Jersey came about in 2014, and Outside Life has already reported on two incidents to this point this 12 months that concerned black bears attacking people there. Each assaults occurred in the identical county the place Kehoe’s video was recorded.
“Shut the door, sweetie,” Kehoe continues within the video, cooing as if she have been speaking to a pet.
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The bear makes use of its claws to drag the door shut sufficient to its mouth to chew down on the doorknob once more. Then it pulls the door closed ever so gently, and the door locks into place with a quiet click on.
“You simply gotta love ‘em,” Kehoe says on the finish of the 36-second clip.
In keeping with Kehoe’s LinkedIn profile, she’s lived in shut proximity to black bears for over 30 years. She says that over that point, she has come to grasp the bears’ methods and mannerisms. Which sounds remarkably just like the angle that Timothy Treadwell had concerning the wild brown bears he “befriended” in Katmai Nationwide Park. Treadwell and his girlfriend have been each killed by a kind of bears in October 2003.
“Via the years, she has been accepted by the black bear as a part of their clan,” Kehoe’s profile reads. “She is ready to stroll with them within the woods and examine their conduct.”
This uncommon relationship has led Kehoe to put in writing a number of books about black bears, together with The Adventures of Two Black Bear Cubs. It has additionally impressed some activism and borderline prison conduct on her half. She was sued in 2017 by two hunters who claimed that she harassed them on-line, and she or he was cited in 2012 for deliberately feeding bears exterior her dwelling. In 2010, Kehoe was discovered responsible of resisting arrest and hindering the lawful taking of wildlife after she interfered with state wildlife biologists who have been within the means of tranquilizing a bear and altering its radio collar.
