Tip this cable guy! NBC New York reports that a Cablevision technician was on a call at a Hopatcong, NJ home when he discovered a bear sleeping in the basement. more ›

When temperatures drop, few foods are more satisfying than the hearty flavors of Eastern Europe, ripe as they are with slow-cooked meats and root vegetables. So it's appropriate that Bear, a new European-accented spot in Long Island City, is opening up this Friday, just as winter starts to settle in. more ›

The black bear that reportedly injured two young campers in New Jersey yesterday was apparently not so vicious—turns out that the boys' injuries weren't caused by the bear, after all. more ›

Two boys, one from Brooklyn and one from Jersey City, aged 11 and 12, were injured when a black bear attacked their campsite in northern New Jersey yesterday, state officials are reporting. One boy's foot was punctured and the other's shoulder was scratched in the attack. more ›

A 17-year-old Rockland County student was mauled by a female grizzly bear (no, not that kind) while in the deep backwoods of Alaska yesterday, leaving him in the ICU along with another teenager who was attacked. more ›

Mother Nature suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of humans this morning when a black bear was forcibly removed from a tree in New Jersey. We didn't realize it was illegal for animals to follow their instincts, and apparently neither did this cute critter, who was tranquilized and removed from the tree near Exit 8 on the New Jersey Turnkpike. Then police officers gathered around to stroke the bear's fur and take trophy photos that will surely enrage the bear once it awakens to find them all over Facebook. (Watching the live streaming video earlier, one Gothamist staffer asked, "Is it wrong I kinda want the bear to suddenly wake up and bite one of their heads off?") more ›

This year's San Gennaro festival was offering up more than just zeppoles... it introduced real wild animals into Little Italy! Capital reports that on Mulberry Street, just south of Houston Street, there's "a set of three cages—one empty, one holding a caged baby lion, and a third with a box containing two tiger cubs" (looks like the empty one held a bear). And we're guessing these little guys have the same opinion on street fairs as Bloomberg. The site notes that "the lion's style was kinda cramped," and it appears that the people already spoke on their behalf, because yesterday the exhibit was being dismantled. Did you see them while they were there? more ›

A man and a woman were taken to Morristown Memorial Hospital in NJ after hitting a bear while riding on a motorcycle around noon yesterday. According to the Daily Record, the Rockaway Township Police responded to the incident: "Joseph Haydu, 60 — the driver of the Yamaha motorcyle — and passenger Carrie Kifner, 51, were traveling north on Green Pond Road when the bear came out of the woods." Haydu is in serious condition while Kifner is in fair condition; "the condition of the bear is not known it was not at the scene when authorities arrived." Bears are commonly seen in increasingly-developed NJ, but usually rooting through people's trash or doing their business. more ›

Who knew that ursines were so critical of reality television starring wildly privileged (and sometimes broke), fighting New Jersey women? This morning, a large bear wandered onto the lawn of Caroline Manzo's grand Franklin Lakes home, prompting her to Tweet, "There is the biggest f***ing bear in the world in my front yard. TERRIFIED." Her son Christopher also Twittered, "For those of u who ask, a bear doesn't poop in the woods...it prefers my front yard." more ›

A young bear has NJ residents on alert after he (or she!) was spotted ambling through Cresskill, Tenafly, Englewood and Bergenfield yesterday. Residents told WCBS 2, "Now I'll be looking around before I get out of the car," and "I would hope they would just tranquilize it and put it somewhere else, because I don't want my kids running around with a bear loose." more ›

Animal activist Susan Kehoe is on trial in New Jersey for interfering with biologists who were trying to tranquilize a bear to fix its collar. Pretending to be a photographer, she followed biologists into the woods in Vernon, NJ, and attempted to change a battery on the bear's collar to mess up the GPS system. She was charged with hindering or preventing the lawful taking of wildlife, but testified that she could have been shot by one of the biologists because of her proximity to the bear. The bear she followed into the woods with full knowledge it was going to be shot at. more ›

Just miles from the George Washington Bridge, a black bear cub has been spotted in Englewood, NJ, prompting concerns from the authorities and residents. WPIX reports that the police have seen the bear, which is about 200-250 pounds, a few times, once in the company of other bears. The Englewood police don't think the bear (or bears) is aggressive, but one resident said, "I'm not going outside. I don't care if the bear is black, yellow or green, it's a bear, and I'm scared." more ›

The Standard Hotel may be able to handle some skin... as long as it's not leather. Following all the attention they've gotten for their exhibitionist guests (and staff), the Villager reports the hotel on the High Line didn't want the West Village Leather and Bear Street Fair coming near their doors, even though it won unanimous approval from Community Board 2. more ›

The BearVault canister is touted as being "bear resistant" (not to mention "grizzly & black bear-approved") but there's one bear who appears to have mastered opening the container: Yellow-Yellow, a 125-pound bear upstate. According to the NY Times, with word of her prowess spreading, "she has emerged as a near-mythical creature in the High Peaks region of the northeastern Adirondacks." Even though the BearVault has two tabs that need to be pushed in order to turn the lid, Yellow-Yellow (so-named for her two yellow tags) "apparently depresses one tab with her teeth, turns the lid, uses her teeth on the second tab, and then opens it." The Times even has a graphic! State wildlife technician Ben Tabor, who says Yellow-Yellow is shy, said, "I don’t think she’s smarter than most bears. I think she’s had more time to learn." But this means a career as a product tester—BearVault creator Jamie Hogan has a new canister model lined up: "State officials have agreed to test it by filling it with aromatic food and depositing it on Yellow-Yellow’s turf." Aw, we hope they give her a treat for all her hard work! more ›

Never since Tony Soprano prowled his NJ kitchen has a big bear wanted Italian cold cuts so much! The Star-Ledger reports that Vernon resident Henry Rouwendal's "Italian hoagie, loaded with salami and other meats, lettuce, onions and tomatoes" was so tempting that a black bear knocked him down: "Rouwendal said was knocked, face-first to the ground. When he rolled over, the bear was standing over him and then grabbed the sandwich." The 52-year-old electrical engineer said, "I kicked him three times in the snout and one time in the throat. I think the one in the throat got him." The bear ran off—with the sandwich—as Rouwendal was left on the ground. It took him an hour to get up and go back inside his house; he has a "large cut on his left temple and several deep bruises on his knee, elbow and buttocks." The police are calling it an attack, but the NJ DEP doesn't think it's an attack. DEP deputy director Lawrence Herrighty said, "At this point, it just doesn't seem we will label this as an attack on a person. ... He has no bruises, claw marks or scratches or even a ripped shirt that indicates it was a purposeful attack by the bear." more ›

Since Connecticut has banned the ownership of exotic animals—including gorillas, chimps, orangutans, lions, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, ocelots, bobcats and other big, wild cats, wolves, coyotes and bears—as pets, the state is offering a one-day amnesty program that will allow people to bring in their exotic and illegal pets to a zoo without repercussions. The Connecticut Post reports, "All animals collected become property of the DEP... homes will be found for the animals, though probably not at the zoo. Most of the pets will likely go to wildlife sanctuaries or other agencies equipped to handle them." The director of the Beardsley Zoo, where owners can turn in their pets on July 25, Gregg Dancho said he's seen monkeys hanging out in kitchen and people walking mountain lions, "A lot of times, this is impulse buying." Oh, this reminds us of Ming, the tiger found in a Harlem apartment nearly six years ago. more ›

Happy Halloween! Warning: These videos of various animals at the Wildlife Conservation Society's facilities may be too distractingly cute. more ›

The Wooster Collective recently featured video of a piece of street scultpure by Joshua Allen Harris. It could be describe as kinetic pneumatic art, and features an inanimate pile of material attached to a subway grate. When a train passes in the tunnel beneath the grate, the upward flow of displaced air fills the material and produces a medium-sized bear. The continued flow of air makes it appear as if the bear is actually animated, like it's shaking off some arctic water. When the train is gone, the bear retreats to its former state of hibernation, waiting for the next train so it can rise again. more ›

What can you say about the Vernon NJ Police Department except that they like Hanna-Barbera? Because they created a "WANTED" poster with Yogi Bear's likeness, after discovering a black bear had stolen a minivan. Well, maybe "stolen" is overreaching, but Patrolman David Dehardt noticed that a Mazda minivan was parked in an odd spot, and when he approached the car, it had the classic signs of bear presence: "mashed window, paw prints, smudge marks on... more ›