Tired of a thieving bear, beekeeper in Turkey decides to turn him into a honey taster

It is inevitable not to think of Winnie the Pooh when we think of a bear eating honey. But that wasn’t exactly the image that came to mind for a Turkish beekeeper. Tired of a bear stealing part of his production, he decided to turn him into a professional taster.

Today the awesome.club brings the story of a person who managed to turn a problematic situation into a great opportunity.

Ibrahim Sedef is an agricultural engineer in Sürmene, a region in northwest Turkey known mainly for its handicrafts. The region is also known for producing a super tasty and aromatic honey called Anzer, perhaps the best in the world.

Ibrahim has been producing this honey for some time, but recently he had to face a big problem: Big Boy, a bear that was eating his hives. The situation had the locals very worried, mainly because they didn’t want to hurt the animal.

Ibrahim Sedef cleaning up the disaster caused by the bear.

Tired of losing honey and seeing his family threatened, Ibrahim decided to do something about it. First, he followed the animal’s movements, setting up night vision cameras to see exactly what it was doing to the hives.

Day after day, cameras recorded the bear stealing honey. Ibrahim didn’t quite know what to do, until he had a great idea: use it as a taster.

He started by building a table that would withstand the weight of the bear. He placed on it containers with different types of honey: the delicious Anzer, chestnut honey, flower honey, cherry marmalade and other fruits. The containers had labels that served as identification when recording in the dark.

On the first night, Big Boy smelled the different options and decided to stick with Anzer honey. When he finished, he decided to try the rest. To make sure the bear was a good taster, Ibrahim continued to carry out tests with different types of honey, always changing the order of the containers. The result was always the same: Big Boy always went first on the Anzer.

The bear’s demanding palate proved that Anzer has superior quality and is therefore worth the price of the most expensive honey in the world: half a kilo can cost up to 175 dollars. The cost is so high because it has healing properties, especially for respiratory diseases, with more vitamin C than any other type of honey.

Ibrahim Sedef proudly shows off his Anzer hives.

Big Boy has become a marketing ally and helps Ibrahim assess the quality of the honey. If you want, check out the video of the report on the Turkish television channel DHA.

Bears are omnivorous animals and will eat whatever is available. Polar bears mainly eat blubber and meat from other animals such as seals. The other bears have a more varied diet that includes vegetables, insects, fish, meat and, of course, honey.

But the most important thing in bear hives is not the honey, it’s the bees and the larvae inside them, an important source of fats and proteins. Of course, the bees do their best to defend themselves, stinging the bears’ faces in particular, but it is very difficult to penetrate their skin and they end up shaking them off as if they were drops of water.

What would you have done if you were in Ibrahim’s place? How would you face a 500 kg animal? Share your opinion in the comments.