When Life Gives You Bears, Hire Them as Taste Testers

For three years, Turkish beekeeper İbrahim Sedef faced a sticky problem. Local bears kept breaking into his honey stores at night, causing about $10,000 in losses.

Failed Attempts to Bear-Proof His Honey

Sedef tried everything to protect his sweet goods. He placed honey in hard-to-reach spots. He set out other foods to distract the bears. He even locked his honey in boxes and cages.

Nothing worked.

The bears were too smart and too determined. They had no trouble climbing to reach the honey or breaking locks to get what they wanted.

A Sweet Solution

After years of frustration, Sedef had a clever idea. Instead of fighting the bears, why not put them to work?

He decided to turn these honey thieves into honey testers. Sedef wanted to learn which type of honey the bears liked best. This would be valuable market research.

The Great Bear Honey Taste Test

Sedef set up cameras pointed at a buffet of different honey types. He invited his furry neighbors to sample them all.

The results were clear and consistent. The bears always chose his Anzer honey first.

Unbearably Good Honey

This choice proved what many honey lovers already knew. Anzer honey is special. It comes from the nectar of 90 different flowers that grow only in Turkey's Anzer plateau mountains.

The bears confirmed this rare honey deserves its reputation as a fine delicacy. It truly is unbearably good.

From Foe to Friend

In the end, Sedef forgave the bears for all the damage. Whenever he watched the video footage of them enjoying his honey, he forgot about the harm they had caused.

"I just love them," he said.

Sedef's story reminds us that sometimes the best solution comes when we stop fighting a problem and find a way to work with it instead. His bear taste testers turned a costly nuisance into one of the top feel-good stories of the year.