This Is The Most Heartbreaking Image I’ve Ever Taken
309Kviews
When I arrived at the landfill the smokey pit was on fire with flames coming up taller than the bear.
I was speechless, in complete shock of what I was seeing. When I finished making the photograph, the bear turned slowly and walked down into the smokey pit, disappearing from my sight. He never came back up during the rest of my time there.
It took me a very long time to process this photograph after, and I’m still not sure how I feel about. All I know is that it’s the only photograph I’ve ever made that has made me tear up on multiple occasions. And I’m sure still has more to teach me.
More info: Instagram
When I arrived at the landfill the smokey pit was on fire with flames coming up taller than the bear.
I was speechless, in complete shock of what I was seeing. When I finished making the photograph, the bear turned slowly and walked down into the smokey pit, disappearing from my sight. He never came back up during the rest of my time there.
It took me a very long time to process this photograph after, and I’m still not sure how I feel about. All I know is that it’s the only photograph I’ve ever made that has made me tear up on multiple occasions. And I’m sure still has more to teach me.
More info: Instagram
309Kviews
Share on FacebookYou might think this is 'moving' but it's a reality of living in the northern latitudes. Bears up there are like raccoons and rats in other parts of the world. The bear isn't melancholy for loss of habitat, he smells anything remotely edible and would rather browse through landfill than go through the lean months of the year eating moss and grasshoppers. Again, the bear busted into a landfill, by his own damn choice.
MO, having grown up in southern Alaska, I will agree with you here. Black bears are some of the best scavengers around, and here in North Carolina a number of them are in my suburban neighborhood. But the best example of this is to be found in a little place called Cades Cove, where bear and skunk actually live among the campers, day in and day out. The truth is that wildlife actually do better around humans than they would in the wild. The wooded draw behind my house is home to at least one fox family, raccoons, possums, hawk, and yes coywolf. And a deer herd has a routine trail they travel daily. I occasionally see them in my back yard when I enter my driveway at night. Wild animals are thriving around we humans to the point where the deer population in NA is larger than they were when Columbus discovered America. So I don't quite understand why there are so many 'so called' conservationists who are opining about loss of habitat.
Load More Replies...Humans The worst beings in the entire world, I'm ashamed to be part of this race. Sooner we are extinct the better. Not gonna take long we're already doing it... because the people with the power to change things are so incredibly stupid
Anonymous, I've never seen anyone stating absolutely the same views of human race as my own. I've read many conservational books (mostly from Gerald Durrell) and they had once and for all convinced me that the biggest trouble makers when it comes to trying to save the planet are no other than the ones who've got the power. They are far more interested in progress, you know. Because money can solve anything according to their stupid little minds. They can't be eaten or used as oxygen masks though. But those morons would realize it only after there's no food or proper air to breathe.
Load More Replies...Right . The varied comments on this photograph and on our environmental challenges can be construed in many different ways . It's difficult to come up with the right solutions but there are some many things that are being done that are very destructive and need to be stopped .
Load More Replies...Please tell us more about this photo - it's gut wrenching to see a majestic animal surrounded by trash.
Where was this? Do you know why the bear went into the pit? Is there a food shortage for bears? Such a melancholy photo
There is a food shortage for bears during certain months of the year. Not one bit of that is human's fault though. Since the very beginning of bears, they starve for a few months a year. This one found a way around that by visiting a human dump.
Load More Replies...Fantastic photo. The bear looks so lonely and sad; great capture of the look! What is in the pit that he went back in for? Wouldn't it be harmful with all the smoke?
Bears are scavengers. Old Doritos might not be their natural source of food, but its there, and it isn't hard to capture.
Load More Replies...That is a very beautiful and poignant picture. I can only hope that this inspires others to rethink trash and help to maintain our one world better. Thank you very much for sharing this with us.
This trash hasn't simply been tossed here by the careless, this bear (being a scavenger) has simply sought out the easiest source of food, namely this landfill.
Load More Replies...It’s the rubbish the bear is surrounded by, we humans are destroying this planet and animals are either dying off or living in an unnatural environment, we humans have the knowledge and the power the change things for the better but people in power are to selfish and greedy to do what is needed.
It’s the rubbish that the bear is surrounded by that upset me, we humans are destroying this planet and forcing animals to either die off or live in an unnatural environment, we have the knowledge and the power to change things for the better but people in power are to selfish and greedy to do what needs to be done.
If you were trying to survive and you were hungry wouldn’t you do exactly what animals do? It is our responsibility to create and manage our waste responsibly and limit wildlife access to it. Just because they go after it doesn’t mean it is what is best for them or that we should not do better to limit their access to it and provide them with healthy habitats that can provide them with healthy and plentiful sources of food. The thing that most people who make ignorant comments like a I see here do is draw false conclusions based on inadequate understanding of all of the complex cause and effect relationships. Knowledge is power and ignorance is destructive. Perpetuating ideas that are ignorant perpetrates destruction. Better to assume that you don’t know what you don’t know and educate yourself or just don’tspout off about subjects you do not fully understand. There is a reason we are in the midst of the sixth great extinction that will soon lead to our own demise. WAKE UP!!!
This is horrendous! We need to stop this plastic madness. I made a decision to stop producing that much trash which goes to landfill. There are some simple tips which really help and make s difference. You can read about it on my blog poppygoeswild@blogspot.com
When my mother was younger her family vacationed in Banff. She tells of the day that they went to the town dump and watched all the bears foraging through the dump for food. It was a memorable day for her and her younger brother and she still talks about it over 60 years later. Her brother had to write an essay when school started about his summer vacation. His essay began " My favorite day this summer was when we went to the Banff dump. "
Where was this image taken? "At a landfill" is not the answer I'm looking for. Rather, I would like to know where the landfill is located. Thank you!
It's a shame that humans have become such a virus on this earth. That we've pushed and molded the natural order of things. We should suffer the same fate as those creatures we are driving to extinction....and we will.
Yes, I believe that our species is like a virus on this planet. Animals have adjusted to living around humans because they had to. We have taken their habitat and they have done the best they can under the circumstances we have handed them. "By his own damn choice"??? You mean the choices we have left him? M. Collina
No empathy, no feelings for another creature, and humans are supposedly the custodians of the planet! I don't get it either! People are the pits, if I never have to deal with any, it would be too soon. Give me dogs any-day! They've never made me question our relationships. It's as simple as that.
Okay, the bears may enjoy a free lunch, but it will likely make them sick in a variety of ways. That said, I treasure the memories of visiting my dad on the Oregon coast and spending the late afternoon watching the bears rummage through the local dump.
To those of you who harp on about how the bears, racoons, rats, etc. are just scavengers and area menace to humans. How about you think about WHY they are scavengers! We, the wonderful human race, have made a world where the animals are forced in to making themselves something they probably don't want to be ... dependant on the c**p we casually throw away, because we've raped the planet so much they can't live in the wild. And don't get me started on what we do to the animals when they "dare" to come in to "our" backyards. WE, THE PEOPLE, SUCK! The sooner we blow ourselves up, the better.
Would you rather go to a mall to buy clothes or make your own? Would you rather go to a bakery for a loaf of bread or bake your own? Many uninformed people will cry and wail at this photo, but the reality is the bear loves eating our scraps, God knows we throw away enough. The bear will find not-quite-empty cans, scraps of meat, pasta, and all kinds of other things it will love. By the way, bears adore human poop, so all those diapers? Yeah, a feast. It's either delicious food here, or go hunting around for berries and stuff. So just like us, it heads to the mall.
Humans create garbage the whole world is impacted by humans weather or not it's searching for food. So much ecosystem destroyed by humans !!
I just want you to know, that I have not given this a like or a dislike because I am in a quandary as to HOW to respond in that regard! That being said, I have shared your picture EVERY place I could possibly share it! I have asked my good friends to do likewise! It is an important message!
I guess this person never saw a picture of a starving/dying child?
I see we have some sociopaths amongst the commenters. Sociopaths don't have feelings. Nothing "moves" them. Some of my family members are sociopaths, but it's not their fault, they were born that way.
If someone doesn't feel saddened by this picture because they have a different (in this case more knowledgeable) perspective, that hardly makes them a sociopath.
Load More Replies...You might think this is 'moving' but it's a reality of living in the northern latitudes. Bears up there are like raccoons and rats in other parts of the world. The bear isn't melancholy for loss of habitat, he smells anything remotely edible and would rather browse through landfill than go through the lean months of the year eating moss and grasshoppers. Again, the bear busted into a landfill, by his own damn choice.
MO, having grown up in southern Alaska, I will agree with you here. Black bears are some of the best scavengers around, and here in North Carolina a number of them are in my suburban neighborhood. But the best example of this is to be found in a little place called Cades Cove, where bear and skunk actually live among the campers, day in and day out. The truth is that wildlife actually do better around humans than they would in the wild. The wooded draw behind my house is home to at least one fox family, raccoons, possums, hawk, and yes coywolf. And a deer herd has a routine trail they travel daily. I occasionally see them in my back yard when I enter my driveway at night. Wild animals are thriving around we humans to the point where the deer population in NA is larger than they were when Columbus discovered America. So I don't quite understand why there are so many 'so called' conservationists who are opining about loss of habitat.
Load More Replies...Humans The worst beings in the entire world, I'm ashamed to be part of this race. Sooner we are extinct the better. Not gonna take long we're already doing it... because the people with the power to change things are so incredibly stupid
Anonymous, I've never seen anyone stating absolutely the same views of human race as my own. I've read many conservational books (mostly from Gerald Durrell) and they had once and for all convinced me that the biggest trouble makers when it comes to trying to save the planet are no other than the ones who've got the power. They are far more interested in progress, you know. Because money can solve anything according to their stupid little minds. They can't be eaten or used as oxygen masks though. But those morons would realize it only after there's no food or proper air to breathe.
Load More Replies...Right . The varied comments on this photograph and on our environmental challenges can be construed in many different ways . It's difficult to come up with the right solutions but there are some many things that are being done that are very destructive and need to be stopped .
Load More Replies...Please tell us more about this photo - it's gut wrenching to see a majestic animal surrounded by trash.
Where was this? Do you know why the bear went into the pit? Is there a food shortage for bears? Such a melancholy photo
There is a food shortage for bears during certain months of the year. Not one bit of that is human's fault though. Since the very beginning of bears, they starve for a few months a year. This one found a way around that by visiting a human dump.
Load More Replies...Fantastic photo. The bear looks so lonely and sad; great capture of the look! What is in the pit that he went back in for? Wouldn't it be harmful with all the smoke?
Bears are scavengers. Old Doritos might not be their natural source of food, but its there, and it isn't hard to capture.
Load More Replies...That is a very beautiful and poignant picture. I can only hope that this inspires others to rethink trash and help to maintain our one world better. Thank you very much for sharing this with us.
This trash hasn't simply been tossed here by the careless, this bear (being a scavenger) has simply sought out the easiest source of food, namely this landfill.
Load More Replies...It’s the rubbish the bear is surrounded by, we humans are destroying this planet and animals are either dying off or living in an unnatural environment, we humans have the knowledge and the power the change things for the better but people in power are to selfish and greedy to do what is needed.
It’s the rubbish that the bear is surrounded by that upset me, we humans are destroying this planet and forcing animals to either die off or live in an unnatural environment, we have the knowledge and the power to change things for the better but people in power are to selfish and greedy to do what needs to be done.
If you were trying to survive and you were hungry wouldn’t you do exactly what animals do? It is our responsibility to create and manage our waste responsibly and limit wildlife access to it. Just because they go after it doesn’t mean it is what is best for them or that we should not do better to limit their access to it and provide them with healthy habitats that can provide them with healthy and plentiful sources of food. The thing that most people who make ignorant comments like a I see here do is draw false conclusions based on inadequate understanding of all of the complex cause and effect relationships. Knowledge is power and ignorance is destructive. Perpetuating ideas that are ignorant perpetrates destruction. Better to assume that you don’t know what you don’t know and educate yourself or just don’tspout off about subjects you do not fully understand. There is a reason we are in the midst of the sixth great extinction that will soon lead to our own demise. WAKE UP!!!
This is horrendous! We need to stop this plastic madness. I made a decision to stop producing that much trash which goes to landfill. There are some simple tips which really help and make s difference. You can read about it on my blog poppygoeswild@blogspot.com
When my mother was younger her family vacationed in Banff. She tells of the day that they went to the town dump and watched all the bears foraging through the dump for food. It was a memorable day for her and her younger brother and she still talks about it over 60 years later. Her brother had to write an essay when school started about his summer vacation. His essay began " My favorite day this summer was when we went to the Banff dump. "
Where was this image taken? "At a landfill" is not the answer I'm looking for. Rather, I would like to know where the landfill is located. Thank you!
It's a shame that humans have become such a virus on this earth. That we've pushed and molded the natural order of things. We should suffer the same fate as those creatures we are driving to extinction....and we will.
Yes, I believe that our species is like a virus on this planet. Animals have adjusted to living around humans because they had to. We have taken their habitat and they have done the best they can under the circumstances we have handed them. "By his own damn choice"??? You mean the choices we have left him? M. Collina
No empathy, no feelings for another creature, and humans are supposedly the custodians of the planet! I don't get it either! People are the pits, if I never have to deal with any, it would be too soon. Give me dogs any-day! They've never made me question our relationships. It's as simple as that.
Okay, the bears may enjoy a free lunch, but it will likely make them sick in a variety of ways. That said, I treasure the memories of visiting my dad on the Oregon coast and spending the late afternoon watching the bears rummage through the local dump.
To those of you who harp on about how the bears, racoons, rats, etc. are just scavengers and area menace to humans. How about you think about WHY they are scavengers! We, the wonderful human race, have made a world where the animals are forced in to making themselves something they probably don't want to be ... dependant on the c**p we casually throw away, because we've raped the planet so much they can't live in the wild. And don't get me started on what we do to the animals when they "dare" to come in to "our" backyards. WE, THE PEOPLE, SUCK! The sooner we blow ourselves up, the better.
Would you rather go to a mall to buy clothes or make your own? Would you rather go to a bakery for a loaf of bread or bake your own? Many uninformed people will cry and wail at this photo, but the reality is the bear loves eating our scraps, God knows we throw away enough. The bear will find not-quite-empty cans, scraps of meat, pasta, and all kinds of other things it will love. By the way, bears adore human poop, so all those diapers? Yeah, a feast. It's either delicious food here, or go hunting around for berries and stuff. So just like us, it heads to the mall.
Humans create garbage the whole world is impacted by humans weather or not it's searching for food. So much ecosystem destroyed by humans !!
I just want you to know, that I have not given this a like or a dislike because I am in a quandary as to HOW to respond in that regard! That being said, I have shared your picture EVERY place I could possibly share it! I have asked my good friends to do likewise! It is an important message!
I guess this person never saw a picture of a starving/dying child?
I see we have some sociopaths amongst the commenters. Sociopaths don't have feelings. Nothing "moves" them. Some of my family members are sociopaths, but it's not their fault, they were born that way.
If someone doesn't feel saddened by this picture because they have a different (in this case more knowledgeable) perspective, that hardly makes them a sociopath.
Load More Replies...
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