Posted on 09/12/2025 6:19:56 AM PDT by billorites
A pair of Cornell University students killed a 120-pound black bear before bringing the carcass back to their dorm where they skinned and butchered the remains, officials said Thursday.
The two undergrads who had "valid New York State hunting licenses killed a bear lawfully over the weekend," a Cornell spokesperson said in a statement.
The students then "brought the animal into a Cornell residence hall for processing on Saturday" before a "police report was made when a complaint was filed late Sunday night, but no charges have been filed,” the school official added.
An investigator with the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which oversees hunting in New York State, visited the school on Sunday and found no code violations.
The bear was killed in the DEC's Region 4, which includes the following counties — Delaware, Otsego, Albany, Columbia, Greene, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Schoharie and Schenectady, according to the agency.
So the bear wasn't killed in Tompkins County, which includes Cornell University and the city of Ithaca. Ostego, three counties away to the east, would appear to be the area of Region 4 closest to Cornell.
The state agency confirmed school findings that "the incident does not present violations of the Environmental Conservation Law or DEC regulations."
Cornell's intercollegiate teams compete as the Big Red but with no official mascot.
However, fans have long embraced images of a bear and a person wearing a bear suit, decked out in Cornell gear, is a regular sight prowling the sidelines at Big Red football and basketball games.
A growling bear plays a star role in Cornell athletic imagery and bears are all over school memorabilia.
Asians?
Got tired of dorm food.
Would they have gotten into trouble at the University of Maine, where the mascot is Black Bears?
Used to clean up game in my dorm all the time. Frequently used to fry up squirrels, a mess of biscuits and gravy all the time.
I find it hard to believe an Ivy League student actually knows how to do something.
That would have been so cool to see happen.
(Razorback Governor and U.S. Ambassador) Mike Huckabee once reported that he and his dorm buddy used to fry squirrel in their pop corn popper.
LOL ... I still laugh at that story.
Presto Squirrel Dinner 😂
Having dressed deer, how the heck does one dress a bear in a dorm room.? Blood, guts, urine, feces. Then again, not much different than a typical college dorm room....
Train the bears to eat the pythons.
Not that unusual based on my college experience. Of course, that was 50 years ago at the University of Idaho. In that dorm, more guys would have processed wild game in their lives than hadn’t.
My son is being recruited to play football at Cornell. I was totally against it, but...
GOOGLE AI:
Yes, bears can and do eat pythons, though it is relatively rare for them to prey on larger adult pythons due to the danger and size of the snakes. However, studies have documented both fatal and non-fatal encounters, such as a Florida black bear attacking an adult Burmese python and bobcats preying on them. Young pythons are more vulnerable to predators, but even adult pythons can be taken down by these native mammals.
The role of bears in python predation:
Predation on Pythons: Native bears, such as the Florida black bear, have been observed to prey on pythons.
Vulnerability: A Florida black bear once non-lethally attacked an adult female Burmese python, and bobcats have successfully preyed on adult Burmese pythons.
Species Interactions: The Florida black bear is a potential native predator of the invasive Burmese python in the Florida Everglades.
Vulnerability of Pythons: While large adult pythons are powerful, they are vulnerable to native predators like Florida black bears and bobcats.
Where this interaction occurs:
Florida Everglades: This is a key area where Florida black bears and invasive Burmese pythons coexist and interact.
Important considerations:
Power of Pythons: Adult pythons are formidable and can even prey on other animals, but some, like the American alligator, are capable of preying on large Burmese pythons.
Threat to Pythons: Despite their reputation as a powerful predator, Burmese pythons are vulnerable to native predators like bears and bobcats.
Dinner is served. Kinda tastes like spotted owl.
Years ago (’80s), a couple of University of Minnesota students were running a muskrat trap line from their dorm room. ‘Rats were hung in their room. Especially notable because the father of one of the students was a former Minnesota Vikings player.
(U of Minn main campus is divided by Mississippi River)
“ Don’t you have to do this to join a sorority?”
No, they all shave their cats.
Or something like that.
Was that wrong? Bear meat is delicious
I would haved loved to know about such a sorority. ;-) 50 years too late.
I’m a Miserian who STILL supplements the rations with a furry little woodland creature when the opportunity presents.
There isn’t a resident black bear population in the part of the state where I live, but they’re coming. We’re still in the “occasional juvenile male passing through” stage here.
I’ll be happy to invite them to share a place at my table if/when they get here.
Sounds like us when I was growing up. I remember people skinning dear like this regularly.
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