Bearly safe

Folks at the Predators in Action wild animal training center in Big Bear Lake, Calif., are grieving.

One of its grizzly bears bit one of its trainers in the neck. And now he is dead.

Two other trainers were working with Stephan Miller when the fatal accident happened.

They were said to be surprised by the tragedy. Said the bear was following cues and behaving well.

In a February interview, one of the trainers called Rocky “the best working bear in the business.”

So what happened?

I’m no expert in bear behavior, but I do know this.

"Rocky" is 7½ feet tall and weighs 700 pounds. In the wild, bears like that kill and eat things rather easily. In fact, very easily.

"Rocky" may have been in captivity a long time, but he ain’t a pet. You can take the bear out of the wild, but you can’t take the wild out of the bear.

This was the same bear, incidentally, that wrestled Will Ferrell’s character in the recent film “Semi-Pro.” For that scene, Ferrell used a stunt double.

Good call, Will. There are too many sports-spoofs movies yet unmade.