True Cases of Animals Brought To Court

10. Smarter than the Av-er-age Bear!

Macedonia, 2008; a fed-up beekeeper approached Macedonian authorities because of a bear of a problem. A giant bear had been making a habit of raiding poor Zoron Kiseloski’s beehives which Zoran had hoped to harvest come the right season. Reportedly, Zoran got a generator and kept the area lit in addition to playing loud funky folk music from Serbia which seemed to scare away the bear. Sure enough though, as soon as the generator ran out of power the bear came back and destroyed even more of Mr. Kiseloski’s property. As this case went to court, a defense attorney was provided on behalf of the bear but mostly he defended the State – the bear had no owner and therefore was part of the state wild game population. The judge that presided over the case declared the bear guilty of damages totaling $3,500 for the lost honey and hives which the State could make payable to Mr. Kiseloski. No effort was made to corral, banish or kill the offending bear.

If ever in Macedonia beware: there’s a bear in the woods that’s extremely upset over owing the government just under four grand for a few handfuls of honey so tread carefully!

Read more »