My only encounter with a bear was probably when I was about 10. We (myself, sister & mother) went to Benson's Wild Animal Farm here in New Hampshire. They had this bear pit & the wall around it stood maybe 4 ft high. Me being the inner city brat that's used to gaint rats & crazy cats & sick dogs thought nothing of bear teasing. Bear teasing (or baiting) is taking a lage box of popcorn & leaning way over a bear pit & not sharing with the bear in the hopes that you can later say you've made a bear cry. The bear wasn't from the inner city & didn't beg for it's popcorn either, instead it just reared up on it's two hind legs & made a grab for the popcorn. Good thing for me that I let go of the box as the bear raked it's paw down my arm, probably made for bloody good popcorn. My mother was fit to be tied, wouldn't let the onsite vet come near me so we instead got into the car drove the hour back to Boston only to have the doctors at the Children's Hospital call the onsite vet seeing as they all considered them the experts. I showed off my bear wounds for months, there weren't any other kids for blocks & blocks that could show off battle scars from a bear encounter. Never even found out if it was a black or a brown bear only that it liked popcorn. That was the first of my nines lives I was to lose, by now I swear I've only got two left. Barryfrombearland