Merry Christmas from Cocaine Bear

Credit to Goosebuster

I need to make this right. My long time friend and crack blog reporter, Goosebuster, was on this story years before it ever became a nationally released movie. In the very near future (Feb 2023), a movie will be released called “Cocaine Bear.” Years earlier, during the Christmas season, Goosebuster sent me pictures of Cocaine Bear and told me the story around the camp fire. At that time, I liked the story, but felt there was not enough material for a full blog post. However, I have changed my mind. I want to preempt the Cocaine Bear movie and publish this post so that Goosebuster gets credit for bringing the story to light. Additionally, I like my blog to pick up the seasonal holidays, so…Merry Christmas from Cocaine Bear.

Cocaine Bear is Real

I will keep the summary short, but I will warn you that it contains movie spoilers. In summary, in 1985, a lone drug smuggler was flying over the Georgia/Tennessee area with a load of cocaine. Then, he heard on the radio that his plane was being monitored by the authorities. So, he dumped most of the drugs out of the plane in the mountains of Georgia. Moments later, the smuggler donned a parachute and jumped out of the plane. The plane continued on to confuse the pursuit.

Eventually, and in unknown order, these events resulted…One, the plane crashed. Two, the smuggler was squashed in some guys’ backyard in Knoxville when his parachute failed to open. Finally, the black bear pictured above found the main cocaine stash in the Georgia Mountains. Cocaine Bear was born. An autopsy of the bear showed massive amounts of coke in his system. Apparently, Cocaine Bear ate massive amounts of cocaine, went on a minutes long rampage before dying of an overdose. After Cocaine Bear was stuffed, he lived at the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area visitor center. At one point, the bear was owned by singer, Waylon Jennings. Ultimately, Cocaine Bear ended up at the Kentucky Fun Mall in Lexington, KY, where you can visit him today…as Goosebuster and his wife did.

See, I told you that the Cocaine Bear post was too short. To remedy that, I offer several other, completely unrelated animal photos that have some meaning to me. Like Cocaine Bear, these animals just did not have enough material to be their own post.

Stuffed Balto

When my kids were little, Balto was one of their favorite kids movies. Balto was a real sled dog in Alaska. He led a sled team on a run to get the diptheria serum to Nome (1925). This run was the inspiration for the Iditarod dog sled race. Afterwards, it is said that Balto did not have a great life in the years following his fame. Eventually, he lived out his final years peacefully at the Cleveland Zoo. When Balto died (1933), he was stuffed. In current times, I was able to find the actual stuffed Balto at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Do you see the creepy kid’s face?

My favorite Bug and Dinosaur

Specifically, the praying mantis below is Kokomantis. He/she is the pride and joy of Kokomo, Indiana. I have absolutely no further information to provide on Kokomantis. But, Kokomantis is my favorite bug photo.

In the next photo, I pose with Dino from the Sinclair gas stations. Dino was once the most prominent symbol of the petroleum industry. Dino first appeared at the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade in the early 1960s. For reasons that I can not explain, I thought most Dinos and Sinclair gas stations were extinct. They merely existed as treasured relics along forgotten highways. So, when I discovered this brand new Dino in Watkins Glenn, NY, I was quite surprised. To my embarrassment, I then found out that hundreds of Sinclair stations are still in business. Most stations are in the western half of the US. But, a few can be found east of the Mississippi. Who knew?

Live Animal Photos

I took the dog photo below in Montpelier, Vermont. I took it because it’s the strangest looking dog that I have ever seen. Initially, I assumed it was not real. Then, it moved. The owner allowed me to take a picture. I believe she said it was a bergamasco dog. Reportedly, the Rastafarian look is natural. Once again, I have no point here. It’s just the weirdest dog that I ever seen..

The final photo is the best animal, “action” photo that I have ever captured. I was at The Wilds in Zanesville, Ohio. The Wilds are a several thousand acre animal preserve. The Wilds are very impressive. The top 2 (some say only 2) reasons to visit Zanesville are The Wilds and Tom’s Ice Cream Bowl. If you are ever near Zanesville, I highly recommend a visit to both places.

Wrap it up

So, I hope you do not mind my preemptive movie spoilers of the Cocaine Bear movie. I just felt that Goosebuster deserved the blog credit for unearthing this story. Hopefully, you will still find enjoyment in going to the theater to see Cocaine Bear. By the way, Cocaine Bear was the last film for the now deceased actor, Ray Liotta. Beyond Cocaine Bear, thanks for letting me publish a few pictures that I liked, but were not individually worth a blog post. Merry Christmas from Cocaine Bear and PugsleyTonks too! And, Goosebuster…get well soon, my friend. PT

I hope you have tolerate my attempt to “Preempt the Cocaine Bear” on Traveling with PugsleyTonks.

If you need more cute animal posts, here you go https://travelingwithpt.com/the-day-of-the-groundhog/

If you now want some Cocaine Bear apparel, here you go https://kyforky.com/collections/cocaine-bear