Turkish Bear Has A Bad Trip

A brown bear got into some hallucinogenic honey in Turkey’s northwestern Duzce province this week. It didn’t go well.

The Guardian reported that the female brown bear was found wobbling and whining in the forest, where some good Samaritans rescued her. She had got into some mad honey, or “deli bal” in Turkish, produced by beekeepers who feed their honeymakers a kind of rhododendron nectar that packs a potent neurotoxin. 

The result is a honey that can induce a mild hallucinogenic or euphoric effect when taken in small amounts. It is used to treat hypertension, impotence, and some other maladies. Eighteenth-century Europeans called it miel fou, and added it to ale to give it an extra kick. 

Take too much of the stuff and risk dangerously low blood pressure, nausea, seizures, arrhythmia – the works. Every year dozens of people end up in Turkish emergency rooms with mad honey poisoning.

The tripping bear was taken to a vet and is expected to be released in a few days. Turkey’s agriculture ministry called on citizens to come up with a name for the bear and the people responded with “Balkiz,” which translates to “honey girl.”

Watch the besotted bear here: youtube.com/watch?v=cB6Xi48lOGU.

Photo credit: NBC News via Youtube