The bear has been my favorite animal ever since black bears started recovering as a species in my home state of West Virginia and some of them made appearances on and near my grandfather’s farm during my hunting days in high school.

I was so fascinated by bears that I wrote my first college term paper on the historical tensions between man and grizzly bears as the United States expanded westward in the 1800s. I dreamed of a career in wildlife management and wanted to be a bear researcher. The thought of crawling into bear dens as they hibernated to gain insights into the species both thrilled and terrified me.

But not once did I ever think of owning a bear as a pet. I might be tempted to romp with a cub in a controlled environment, but no way would I climb into a cage with a grown bear.

A woman in Pennsylvania made that mistake. Now she is dead. Fox News reported the sad tale:

If you’re thinking of trying to make a pet of a wild animal, especially one as large and powerful as a bear, remember these words of Calvin Dubrock of the Pennsylvania Game Commission: “Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, the law allows folks to keep wild animals in captivity. And they begin to treat them as pets, begin to trust them, and it really is misplaced trust.”