It’s hard to escape all of the buzz that the new horror comedy “Cocaine Bear” is generating. The film is based on the real life story of a black bear that ingested a duffle bag full of cocaine. In the movie, the bear goes on a drug-fueled rampage. But in reality, the bear passed away due to an overdose from the 75 pounds of cocaine it consumed.
Since its discovery in 1985, the bear’s taxidermied body has been housed in storage facilities, pawn shops, it was even once owned by country star Waylon Jennings. In 2015, it came to the Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall, where a lot of work was put into preserving its body and legacy. Also to serve as a hell of a warning about the dangers of drug use, let alone bears.
Ever since “Cocaine Bear” started to go viral, Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall has been inundated with offers to buy it. The shop in Lexington has been offered anywhere from $10,000 to $300,000 for the 175-pound black bear.
Ripley’s Believe it or Not! has posted a video on social media telling Kentucky for Kentucky Fun Mall to name their price.
This was after posting a poll to their audience of 250,000 on Facebook and Instagram asking if they should try to buy it. 77.5% of respondents think that Cocaine Bear should become part of Ripley’s collection.
In addition to the money, Ripley’s also showed off how many bears are already in their collection. The video shows a black bear found with a tire around its waist, a grizzly trained in the Russian circus to ride a bicycle, a Kodiak who came face-to-face with a porcupine, and prehistoric cave bear skeletons. Clearly, Ripley’s knows a lot about bear corpse preservation.
We just hope wherever the bear ends up it will be treated with the respect a legendary cocaine bear deserves. Catch the film in theaters now.
Check out Ripley’s bid below:
