As a book blogger, I recently had the pleasure of learning about the real-life story of the Cocaine Bear. This incredible tale of drugs, wildlife, and taxidermy is a fascinating one that deserves to be told. In 1985, ex-DEA agent Andrew Thornton and an associate parachuted out of an overloaded Cessna plane over Tennessee, dumping bricks of cocaine into the Georgian woods. Tragically, Thornton died seconds after he jumped when his parachute failed to open. Months later, a 175-pound black bear was discovered with nearly 90 lbs of cocaine in its stomach. It is believed that the bear had overdosed on the cocaine. The bear was then stuffed and put on display at the Chattanooga River National Recreation Area, eventually ending up in a Chinese medicine shop. It was later purchased by KY for KY and put on display at their Fun Mall with a placard urging visitors to not do drugs. This incredible story of the Cocaine Bear is definitely one worth reading!
