# Cause of death: Feet licked by bear? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 16, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384 "2010-08-16T03:20:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![alindallas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@alindallas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alindallas)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/41 "2010-08-20T12:06:32Z")
That’s it? I return after 24 hours to find ONE additional pun? Gosh, I guess I’ll go talk to some horses. ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/42 "2010-08-20T23:33:02Z")
> [@Wilbo523](#): > > I’ve had my feet licked by a North American black bear, and lived to tell about it. Just because you’re not dead yet doesn’t mean you’re out of danger. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/43 "2010-08-23T17:26:30Z")
> [@alindallas](#): > > That’s it? I return after 24 hours to find ONE additional pun? Gosh, I guess I’ll go talk to some horses. Just bear with it, you will find some more underfoot. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![zg1000dru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b38774/32.png) [@zg1000dru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zg1000dru)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/44 "2011-04-17T01:40:20Z")
I have to laugh at the question posted. I came her for the same reason. My fiancee, born and raised in Iran, told me, also with stone-faced seriousness, that bears are well known to lick the feet of women (she was very specific about this) until they are too raw for the women to run away. Then they keep them like teddybears or something. Apparently, men are for eating, women are for other stuff in the bear world. Anyway, once I stopped laughing, she told me that her father had told her this. Mind you, this is the same father who told her that he had fought a jinn (that’s a genie to us) and won. Persians, you gotta love em. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/45 "2011-04-17T03:48:19Z")
Do zombie bears lick feet? ---
**Author:** ![wbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/439d5e/32.png) [@wbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wbeaty)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/46 "2011-04-17T04:13:50Z")
Maybe bears always take your feet back to the den before licking? And about goats, see “Le supplice de la chèvre,” two examples below [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffu155MJg5M](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffu155MJg5M) [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd8MZE\_cYXM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd8MZE_cYXM) ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2011, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/47 "2011-04-17T11:00:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Maybe Persian bears are poisonous or something. _The Attack Of The Poisonous Persian Bears!_–Starring David Hedison. ---
**Author:** ![cookcooks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@cookcooks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cookcooks)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/48 "2014-01-05T13:32:59Z")
I had a Persian (Iranian) friend who said the Persians used to torture people this way. They would strap someone to a table, coat their feet with honey, and let a bear into the room. The bears rough tongue would lick the skin off the feet while eating the honey and the rest you can imagine… ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/49 "2014-01-05T18:09:49Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > _“Halp!!! Pede file!!!”_ Pedebear approves! ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/50 "2014-01-05T20:19:56Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Rather like being eaten by a boa constrictor. And you won’t like it much. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/51 "2014-01-05T22:05:24Z")
> [@cookcooks](#): > > I had a Persian (Iranian) friend who said the Persians used to torture people this way. They would strap someone to a table, coat their feet with honey, and let a bear into the room. The bears rough tongue would lick the skin off the feet while eating the honey and the rest you can imagine… There are bears in Persia (Iran)? 😕 Zombie bears? 😃 D&R ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/52 "2014-01-05T22:22:05Z")
Apparently some people can’t bear a bear licking bare feet. ---
**Author:** ![OldGrayRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/cdc98d/32.png) [@OldGrayRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGrayRed)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/53 "2014-01-06T06:33:06Z")
IF that happened to me I would probably die of dehydration. If I woke to a wild bear licking my feet I would probably have a reaction similar to that caused by cholera! ---
**Author:** ![vontsira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/51bf81/32.png) [@vontsira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vontsira)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/54 "2014-01-06T10:58:51Z")
> [@JBDivmstr](#): > > There are bears in Persia (Iran)? 😕 > Zombie bears? 😃 > D&R From the Wikipedia article on the Eurasian brown bear: “subspecies of brown bear persist in small, isolated and for the most part highly threatened populations in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan…” The Polish Army’s renowned World War II “soldier bear” Wojtek – a much-loved mascot, who allegedly helped his human colleagues by carrying ammunition – was an Iranian brown bear, acquired when young, by a Polish Army unit then stationed in the Middle East. (Wiki: Wojtek [bear].) ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/55 "2014-01-06T15:12:12Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Apparently some people can’t bear a bear licking bare feet. I can, though barely. ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/56 "2014-01-06T15:49:56Z")
> [@vontsira](#): > > From the Wikipedia article on the Eurasian brown bear: “subspecies of brown bear persist in small, isolated and for the most part highly threatened populations in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan…” > > The Polish Army’s renowned World War II “soldier bear” Wojtek – a much-loved mascot, who allegedly helped his human colleagues by carrying ammunition – was an Iranian brown bear, acquired when young, by a Polish Army unit then stationed in the Middle East. (Wiki: Wojtek [bear].) The things you can learn here on the SDMB are limitless! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/57 "2014-01-06T22:27:47Z")
Those Polish didn’t know when they were licked. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384/58 "2014-01-06T23:45:17Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > I’ve had my feet licked by a North American black bear, and lived to tell about it. This, _this_ is a man with a story… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cause-of-death-feet-licked-by-bear/550384.md?page=2)