The bearhug may never have been interpreted quite so literally.
That at least must be the reaction of many viewers to a video showing a man accomplishing the gesture with a 9 foot-tall, 1,500 pound bear.
Jim Kowalczik, 59, and his near-namesake Jimbo the Kodiak bear, 22, can be seen in the above video playing, hugging and even enjoying a massage between friends.
The footage was filmed at the Orphaned Wildlife Center in Otisville, N.Y., run by Mr. Kowalczik and his wife Susan, 57.
The surprisingly cuddly Jimbo is one of 11 bears at the center north of New York City, where all the animals arrived after suffering injuries in the wild.
The aim is to release the animals back into the wild once the center is sure they will be able survive, as director Kerry Clair explained to the New York Times.
“Our primary purpose is to release these animals into the wild; we only keep them if there’s some problem.”
Horses, deer and squirrels are also rehabilitated there but Ms. Clair maintains it not a zoo and as such closed off from the public.
However, a consequence of being raised by humans from such a young age is that bears who become too friendly cannot return to the wild.
Immune to the potential risk of the inter-species friendship, Mr. Kowalczik describes the bears as his ‘children’, with differing personalities in the same way as people.
The literal bearhug appears to have no equal amongst men though, “You can go in and lay down with him, and he’ll pull you right in,” he said.
