The True Story of the Infamous Cocaine Bear

The True Story of the Infamous Cocaine Bear

In the early hours of a summer day in 1985, a black bear wandered into the woods near the Tennessee-Georgia border, searching for food. Little did it know that it would soon become the protagonist of a bizarre and tragicomic episode that would earn it a notorious nickname: the Cocaine Bear.

As it turns out, the bear stumbled upon a stash of more than 70 pounds of cocaine that had been dropped from a drug smuggler's plane as it flew over the area. The bear, being an opportunistic omnivore, ate some of the drug-filled bags, unknowingly ingesting a fatal dose of the potent stimulant.

The rest of the story involves a series of unlikely events and characters that read like a Coen Brothers movie script. The bear's lifeless body was found by a hiker, who alerted the authorities, who in turn contacted Charlie Russell, a taxidermist who specialized in creating lifelike animal displays for museums and exhibitions. Russell, who had no idea what he was getting into, agreed to stuff and mount the bear, hoping to turn it into a quirky attraction for his roadside shop in Kentucky.

However, when the bear's remains were inspected by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, they discovered the presence of cocaine, which turned the case into a federal investigation of drug trafficking. Russell, who had no involvement in the drug trade, was briefly detained and questioned, but eventually cleared of any charges. Nevertheless, the Cocaine Bear became a sensation in the media, and its legend grew over the years, inspiring songs, books, and memes.

The latest iteration of the Cocaine Bear story is a film directed by Elizabeth Banks, which had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2022. The movie, titled "Cocaine Bear," is a fictionalized account that imagines what might have happened if the bear had not died instantly but instead gone on a wild and dangerous trip through the Appalachians, pursued by various characters who are either after the drugs, the bear, or both. The film, which stars Keri Russell, O'Shea Jackson Jr., and Ray Liotta, has received mixed reviews so far, with some critics praising its absurdity and humor, while others finding it uneven and contrived.

Regardless of its artistic merit, the Cocaine Bear saga remains a cautionary tale of the perils of drug trafficking and the unintended consequences of human behavior on the natural world. It's also a reminder that truth can be stranger than fiction, and that some stories are too strange not to be told.