How did he come into possession of the bear? It seems the previous owner got a tad nervous when the cute little cub started turning into - surprise! - a bear. ("When he got old enough to where [the bear] wanted to play a little bit, he got scared of him. He wasn't teaching him no manners or nothingŠ.")

There's just something about an unmannerly bear that grates.

Jo Bear, it seems, didn't prove as much fun as its last owner had anticipated, so "I thought, 'Well, I'll just make a rug out of him when he gets bigger.' But then, you know, we kind of got attached to him.'"

Even unmannerly bears evidently have their charms. For some of us. But the bear's owner eventually gave him up. Which is how Jo Bear got to the wildlife refuge.

It's hard to let go of a story like this. It's like having a bear by the tail.

My problem is much the same as the bear's former owner: Fascinating as the subject is, how end the relationship? Shakespeare solved the problem simply enough in Act III, Scene 3, of "The Winter's Tale." To quote his stage direction, in toto:

Exit, pursued by a bear.