I have never been one to find bears “cute.” Maybe this is because my plush stuffed animals of choice as a child were a dinosaur, a panda wearing a panda onesie (at my own doing) and a clown (adorable, not scary) aptly name Clownie, I never appreciated the assorted styles of teddy bears that my playmates enjoyed cuddling or playing with in assorted scenarios with their Barbies.

They’d go to the zoo and oggle over the bears putzing around their habitats and I’d be drawn to the cute, cuddly…aquatic animals. (PUFFINS)

Maybe this is partially responsible for why I find bears utterly terrifying and  I fear one ripping my face off every time I go camping. They are majestic, strong, ridiculously terrifying creatures, something only reinforced by reading Bill Bryson’s fears — and a few of his researched anecdotes of bear attacks — in a Walk in the Woods.

And now bears have me feeling bad for salmon. As we noted before, the U.S. Forest Service has an underwater live camera to watch the salmon spawning in Steep Creek, Juneau, Alaska. And in a particular gem they tweeted, here is a giant bear, catching his dinner.  At first I was kind of amused by it, I had a little “dum dee dum” sound track playing in my head when you first see the bear’s feet.  And then it changed to awe seeing how the bear just swooped up a rather enormous salmon.

It’s something to see.