On Pet Bears

I have decided to have my criminal record expunged. The first step to expungement  is to request your record from the state. Ah the memories. Illegal capture of wildlife…………
I had a pet bear once, but only for a week or so. I saw it in a tree at the ranch and thought “cool, free bear”. It looked small from 25 feet below but I wasn’t sure. Bear size is hard to judge. Brenn thought it was big enough to at least maul me. “I thinks its bigger than you think”. Only one way to find out. As I climbed up close to him the bear gave his most threatening growl. So cute, the little guy didn’t even have teeth yet! I pried him away from the tree trunk and he grasped onto me like I was his momma and down we came.
Brenn: “Now what are you going to do with it?”
Me: “I’m going to keep him, his name will be Freedom, I will raise him to be my friend, he will ride in the back of my truck and and attack anyone who dis-respects me.”
Brenn: “cool”
I had always wanted a pet bear. The seed was planted at young age from hearing stories of my grandfather; adventurer, rancher, war hero and long time Ogden resident Ralph Lowe. He had several pet bears during his life. He kept them in his yard at 2552 Buchanan and would walk them in the foothills on a chain. My mothers childhood is full of memories of their pets. Bears, raccoons, mountain lions, skunks, badgers chained up under the trampoline, monkeys, wolfs. I guess Grandpa just liked critters. Ha Ha, now its my turn!
Word spreads fast when you have a bear cub. I had not even gotten back to Ogden before I was getting requests to see my bear. Instant celebrity is stressful. Soon people were just showing up at my house, people I didn’t even know. “We want to see the Bear” Did Grandpa have to deal with this? Ah, but know this. Bear cubs are one thing for sure, chick magnets! That was good for sure. But between all the callers and having to bottle feed little Freedom I wasn’t getting much sleep and I was falling behind in my work. Freedom was showing some signs of stress also, too many strangers wanting to hold him all the time. He was becoming inverted. But like I said, word spreads fast and it wasn’t long before I got a call from DWR inquiring about my bear. It was sort of a relief, the guy told me he had a good place to take the cub that would raise him and then set him free or something like that. Truthfully, I didn’t have a stable enough home life to be adopting orphaned animals. So I let them come take my Freedom. He would be better off I figured and so would I. Two years later I was arrested on a warrant “illegal capture of wildlife” I had had a warrant for my arrest for two years!? Whatever, $150 fine and I got to see the then new Weber County jail for about an hour. ( As jails go, I hate it no more than any other.)
Now I am building a house at the ranch. And part of the plan is bear habitat. I will have another bear. I will raise him to be my friend and he will ride  in the back of my truck and attack anyone who dis-respects me. And yes, his name will be Freedom.

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