Kurt, a shy spectacled farmer bear, was driving his truck back home. He was a quiet Southerner, who likes his peace and solitude away from the city. A police car suddenly came from behind him and signaled Kurt’s truck to pull over. Two policemen came out of the car and told Kurt to do the same. Kurt shyly complied and tipped his hat in greetings, he opened his mouth to say something but the police suddenly pulled their guns to him shouting at him to put his hands up in the air. Kurt did so and then bang. One of them fired their guns at him, killing Kurt in the process. They looked at him and started taking off their uniform, revealing poachers clothes. They high-five each other and started talking.
“Told you this police costume would work. Now we got this bear’s head as a trophy. No one would even know it was that easy, dude!” Their conversations drifted off as they dragged Kurt’s body to his own truck to bring to their own home.”
— — — — — — -
“Woah! That came unexpected.”, said Paul, an actor who was well-known for collecting endangered animal heads, as he was reading the script. The screenplay title was Barely Holding On. A television series about bears living in the human world.Mr. Berry, the producer of A&B Co, adjusted his glasses, smoked his cigar and shrugged, “It’s just a play Mr. Paul. Besides, I heard you’ve got quite a wall of heads in your house! Lovely! I hope one day, you will be able to show us those beauty trophies you got there!”
Paul just lifted his shoulder and said they were just given to him as gifts. He went on reading the next play.
— — — — — — — — — — — — -
It was Anette’s birthday, turning her four years old. Officially an adult now and she can do whatever she want to do without needing her parent’s permission all the time! She just got her own small little home, finished school and just got hired for work. Life was just sweet. And was about to be wickedly exciting tonight since her friends had a surprise party for her. Whoop! She did a little skip as she walked to the ol’ farmers barn where her party was held.She passed by Mr and Mrs. Sol’s farm where they were growing vegetables and corn. Anette’s mouth watered as she could smell the corn ready to be harvested for that season. They weren’t exactly that welcoming towards their kind but maybe if she told them that its her birthday and she just wants a little treat then maybe Mr. and Mrs. Sol wouldn’t mind if she took one.
She opened the gate and carefully took one corn. Before she could take a bit, the front door opened and Mrs. Sol came out with a gun pointing at her. Anette carefully walked backwards with her hands up.
“Don’t shoot Mrs. Sol! See, its my birthday and I just turned 4 and I thought I could just have a treat of your delicious corn. I’m so sorry, it won’t happen aga…”, trailed off Anette before falling to the ground. Mrs. Sol just fired her gun.
“Did you see that hon? That damn bear was about to attack me! It was coming closer and growling! These Andean bears are a menace.”, yelled Mrs. Sol to her husband.
— — — — — — — — — — — -
Paul stood up from his chair and told Mr. Berry to find someone else to act for their play.
“But you haven’t finished the script Paul. There’s another one about a mom and her cubs.”, said Mr. Berry to him.
Paul said thanks but it was just too much for him to handle and left the place hurriedly.
A week after Paul left, Mr. Berry was reading the headlines as he was about to get off from work. “Hmm… It seems Mr. Paul has sold off all his gift trophies and became a dedicated conservationist now.”. He took off his glasses and carefully peeled off his human mask putting it on a mannequin. “Guess there is hope for us bears after all.” He smiled as he munched on his salad.
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Andean bears are also called Spectacled bears for the whitish to yellowish rings that encircle their eyes, resembling large eyeglasses. They are the only bears found in South America and sadly their population is decreasing. There seem to be only 10,000 of them all over the world in the Northern Andens.
Andean bears are omnivores, their diet consisting mostly on plants, occasionally supplementing their diet with meat, such as rodents, birds and even cattle which categorize them as pests for farmers.
These bears are among the smallest members of the family Ursidae and are the most shyest of the bears. They would rather retreat to their natural habitat in the forest and avoid humans.
The only predator that these shy bears have is humans. Humans that destroy their forest where they find food, sleep and eat. Poachers that kill them for their fur and meat. Farmers who regards them as agricultural pests for taking their crops.
If you would like to adopt a spectacled bear and help protect the umbrella species, here are some links that you can save these shy bears from going extinct (but please do your own research first about these organizations before adopting, I make no financial advises):
