Social Buffs – Fall 2015

Falling Bear, Part II

In early July, a two-year-old black bear climbed a tree near the engineering complex, just east of Cockerell Hall, drawing delighted spectators, trained animal handlers and campus photographer Glenn Asakawa (Jour’86).

Moments after the bear was tranquilized for safe transport back to the wild, Asakawa snapped the sleepy animal as it tumbled onto safety mats below.

Within hours, the photo blew through social media and onto major national news platforms, including CNN, the Huffington Post and Mashable.

“Bear with us,” CNN said. “The photograph is too good not to share.”

The incident — in which no one was harmed, including the bear — recalled a very similar situation three years ago, when a bear falling from a different campus tree was captured by Andy Duann (ElEngr’12) and became a popular Internet meme.

“After Falling Bear 1.0 went viral, I vowed never to ignore any animal on campus!” says Asakawa.