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scienceFeb 7, 202525:16pending

Hollywood lied to us: Cocaine Bear

What The Duck?!

About this episode

In 1985, a real American black bear consumed a bunch of cocaine that'd been dropped from a plane into the forest, and died.

Nearly 40 years later Hollywood stepped in the rewrite the story. What would happen if the bear survived? Maybe it'd go on a coke-fueled rampage. That's how it works, right?

Cocaine Bear (2023) launched a lot of memes, but does it get anything right about bears, or how they'd act under the influence of blow...or did Hollywood lie to us?

Would a black bear really eat a drug dealer alive?

Do bears do 'snow' *wink* angels?

Dr Ann Jones cuts through it all to get some serious answers. 

Guests:

  • Nate Bowersock, Black Bear and Furbearer Biologist, Missouri Department of Conservation, Chair, The BearWise Program
  • Dr Ben Kilham, founder Kilham Bear Centre
  • Nat Tencic, What the Duck?! producer 

Production:

  • Ann Jones, Presenter / Producer
  • Nat Tencic, Producer
  • Isabella Tropiano, additional mastering

This episode of What the Duck?! was produced on the lands of the Wadawarrung, Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Kaurna people.

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Hollywood lied to us: Cocaine Bear

What The Duck?!

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