Cocaine Bear
publication date: Thursday, May 18, 2023 (part of May 2023)
category: 
Accidents
clue: First, it was a black bear minding its own business in Georgia. Then, for about five minutes, it was the greatest apex predator on Earth. Now, it's a tourist exhibit, legally performing marriages at a mall in Kentucky.
explanation: "Cocaine Bear" (sometimes called "Pablo Escobear" or "Cokey the Bear") was a black bear who, in 1985, came upon a plastic container of cocaine worth tens of millions of dollars that had been dropped from a plane by drug smugglers. The bear died after ingesting up to 75 pounds of cocaine, and its taxidermied remains changed hands several times, eventually landing in a mall where couples can legally cite it as the officiant of their wedding. For years, a meme circulated on the Internet telling the bear's story, with the punchline that for the brief window of time before it died of a massive overdose, it was the entire planet's apex predator. The popularity of the meme inspired the 2023 horror-comedy film Cocaine Bear. more…
intended difficulty: very easy
solved by: Russ Wilhelm, Steve West, LaVonne Lemler, Samir Mehta, Richard Slominsky, and Erik Bates
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