It Bears Repeating
(some favorite words about teddy bears)

Even though there is a rip in your teddy bear, his love will not fall out. - Eve Frances Gigliotti, submitted by Ana-Liesa, Australia.

Let's be teddy bears in our next lifetime. Everybody loves them, nobody cares if they're fat, and the older they get, the more they're worth. - submitted by Sherri

People believe in Teddy bears because Teddy bears believe in people. Teddys count on people to get them down off of shelves and into human arms. - submitted by Kathy Cressman

There are only two Nations:- Those with Teddys and those without.
(I found this on a plaque at a craft fair here in England, origin unknown. - Paul)

It is astonishing, really, how many thoroughly mature, well-adjusted grown-ups harbor a teddy bear--which is perhaps why they are thoroughly mature and well-adjusted. --Joseph Lempa --
thanks to Brenda Lindley-Anderson (aka Brenda Bear) for this quote.

Cuddly and warm, these calming creatures reassure me in the days of doubt when fears fly before reason and the world looms bleak instead of beautiful. The Teddy bear, all things to all ages, all sizes for all preferences, symbol that all is right with the world if one only believes.--Anonymous

My Teddy was there when I had no friends to play with, no one to talk to, no one to share my little woes or my big joys. He looked constant and was constant. He never aged, no matter how tattered he became. His smell was the smell of my years as a boy, and he alone knew everything. Now, when I see him on the shelf, he is like my flesh and my soul--older, worn, but still full of happiness.--Robert Kunciov

Teddy bears make great confessors, advisors, best friends--and scapegoats. Whenever my mother prepared to punish me for one misdeed or another, I would always be ready with "Teddy did it!"--Anonymous

A Teddy bear will always care. When all else fails hug your teddy. A teddy's heart is as big as his smile. --Submitted by "Tess"

There is a personal relationship with teddy bears that never releases its grip. Who can forget a real friend, perhaps the only friend who really understood? The only one who could see a polar bear on the lawn or a witch in the old house in the woods? Or the only one who hugged you hard when the ghost appeared at the bedroom window - Barbara Werkmaster, Eva-Lena Bengsston and Per Peterson, Swedish writers

Teddy Bear Teddy Bear you're in my heart
Teddy Bear Teddy Bear nobody can take us apart
Teddy Bear Teddy Bear you can do no harm
Teddy Bear Teddy Bear you're my truest charm!
written/created by Mandy

I saw this one quote on a picture with some bears sitting on a shelf:
"Please don't feed the bears, They're stuffed already." - Author unknown
and another one from a picture with a well loved teddy:
"This is Me...I am a very Special Bear, the "Teddy" Kind of Bear. These are not my first eyes, one got lost and our mom got me a "almost the same size button, my tail has been sow'd on 'Leventy nine times, I used to have hairs before i was loved so hard, I have a very 'portant job to perteck my person from spooky stuff in the night." submitted by Kelli

Send us your favorite quote on bears!

Ursine Legends
(stories about bears seen or heard in various news reports)

Binky, a polar bear in the Anchorage Zoo has become an Alaskan folk hero. In 1994, people twice scaled fences to get closer to him. An Australian woman was bitten and received a broken ankle and leg wounds from Binky. She also lost one tennis shoe which Binky carried around as his trophy for hours. Six weeks later two local teens also climbed into Binky's territory. Binky scored one leg bite, but no tennis shoe.

Griz and Cat - In Grants Pass, Oregon at Wildlife Images (a wildlife rehabilitation center), a 560 pound grizzly bear, Griz, has adopted a stray kitten. In July '95 four kittens were dumped at the wildlife center. Three were trapped, but the fourth was elusive. Later in the summer, the starving kitten squeezed through a hole in the fence of Griz's pen and approached him as he was eating. Everyone thought the kitten would become Griz's next meal, but he pulled a piece of chicken out and dropped it down for the kitten. Now the cat (named Cat) and Griz eat, sleep and play together.

An update on Griz from John Meyers: According to a second hand report from a Paul Harvey Radio program: Griz grew to over 800 pounds and still ate, played and slept with Cat. Then Cat wandered off, Griz looked for Cat for several weeks and then died, probably from a broken heart. Sorry to pass on the sad ending but that is the rest of the story.

Page art copyright Gail Gastfield.