Claim: An albino grizzly bear was repeatedly sent back into the Arctic after it was mistaken for a polar bear. Its Tally of Ratings:
Internet users have taken to labeling Joey the “unluckiest bear in the world”, making him something of an urban legend online. According to popular belief, Joey, an albino brown bear (sometimes described as an albino grizzly bear depending on where one gets their information) kept getting airlifted back and forth to the Arctic due to people mistaking him for being polar bear.
Snopes determined that online posts claiming an albino bear existed as early as 2021 and persisted into 2024; one example includes this video shared to TikTok on April 29, 2023 which had amassed more than 4.2 million views by publication date.
Snopes did not find any credible reports to back this claim up; wildlife expert Geoff York of Polar Bears International (a non-profit polar bear conservation group) suggested this story likely started as an internet hoax or was put together with no serious intent in mind.
Why? For one thing, York explained, the light-phase bear (phase refers to color variations among bears) featured in the video is clearly not a polar bear.
According to North American Bear Center’s wildlife educational facility, black bears (Ursus americanus) come in all sorts of shades – from black and brown, through cinnamon-blond hair coloration and blue-gray hues up until being nearly exclusively black west of the Great Plains.
“Black fur is more durable in dense forests of eastern states due to melanin’s protection, yet over half of black bears living there can often be found with brown, cinnamon or blonde fur,” according to this organization.
Lighter colored fur helps bears avoid heat stress in direct sunlight and feed longer in food-rich habitats, according to North American Bear Center research. Light-colored fur may also serve as camouflage from predators that inhabit these open areas,” adds NABC.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game has noted that brown or grizzly bears often exhibit different hair colors. Coat coloration is determined genetically; experts suspect genetics might explain white-colored brown bears (this does not correspond with albinism, where melanin levels in the body decrease and lead to white skin and hair.)
An additional argument against the false claims of “mistaken for polar bear” lies in the difficulty and cost associated with moving such an animal from North America into the Arctic region. Such relocation efforts require extensive international coordination and resources – an impossible dream scenario!
“Typically speaking, animal welfare groups do not engage in relocation efforts due to lacking the management authority and funding to capture and transport animals from one national location to another,” noted York.
“Transporting an animal like this across long distances would be prohibitively costly and require international cooperation — something not seen for some time now. Personally speaking as someone who has visited the North Pole several times myself, attempting to relocate anything here would likely prove futile,” states sources at NASA.
Animal Doozy. Unluckiest Bear in the World! (2023. YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbbwYQ9xXzw ).
Belvedier0609 wrote that Joe the Albino Brown Bear, was always being rescued and brought up at the North Pole after every time they saw in the Forest.” To see this humorous picture go here: https://ifunny.co/picture/his-is-joe-the-albino-brown-bear-every-time-he-BHEP7yjM8
North American Bear Center. “Black Bear Color Phases”. Accessed 3 July 2024.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game. White Black Bears and Blonde Grizzlies; Accessed 3 July 2024 via http://adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=314
Polar Bears International. “Meet Our Team | Polar Bears International”. https://polarbearsinternational.org/what-we-do/our-team/#geoffyork
Polar Bears International. Available at https://polarbearsinternational.org/ on 3 July 2024.
TikTok – Make Your Day. Accessed 3 July 2024.
“‘Unluckiest Bear in the World: Albino Grizzly Bear Mistaken for Polar Bear Sent to Arctic Five Times!” Published on 3 July 2024 by Times of India’s Economic Times- The Times of India website at https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/etimes/trending/unluckiest-bear-in-the-world-albino-grizzly-bear-mistakened-for-polar-bear-sent-5-times-5-times/55496cms#11.cms#118455496cms#1.cms#1.cms1.
“—.” The Times of India, 3 July 2024. For more information please see Economic Times-The Times of India website https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/etimes/trending/unluckiest-bear-in-the-world-albino-grizzly-bear-mistaken-for-polar-bear-sent-to-arctic-5-times/111425496.cms
