To illustrate why that's important, he pointed me to an online video that shows the death of a young polar bear cub.

CNN: Don't feed the (polar) bears

There are even books about Wojtek, a bear cub adopted by Polish soldiers, who drank beer, ate cigarettes, carried ammunition and died in a zoo in Scotland.

ECONOMIST: Poland at war: The vivisection of Poland | The

Thus inspired, Michtom duly created a stuffed bear cub, and he put it in his shop window, accompanied by a sign that read "Teddy's bear", having already sent an earlier version to Roosevelt, who promptly gave him permission to use his name.

BBC: A Point of View: The grown-ups with teddy bears

It explains why we say never come between a mama bear and her cub.

CNN: When motherhood becomes a nightmare

Police found and killed the three-year-old polar bear that attacked the man, and later shot and killed a female polar bear and her 18-month-old cub, according to official reports cited in the newswire.

FORBES: Russian Police Kill Three Polar Bears Following Deadly Attack