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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCornell students kill bear, bring it into residence hall to skin and butcher
ITHACA, N.Y. (WSYR) Students at Cornell University in upstate New York are concerned after two undergraduates killed a bear and brought it back to their dorm hall, a spokesperson for the school said.
Over the weekend, the students, who are confirmed to have valid New York State hunting licenses, killed the animal and brought it back to a dorm building for processing, the spokesperson wrote in a statement shared with Nexstars WSYR.
A police report was made when a complaint was filed late Sunday night, the spokesperson said.
Pictures circulating in the Cornell University subreddit allege to show the skinned animal laying on a tarp-covered table in what looks to be a shared kitchen area. Cornells spokesperson was not immediately available to confirm the veracity of those photos.
Some students expressed concern over the legality of the students actions, but a university spokesperson said no charges have been filed.
https://www.woodtv.com/news/nexstar-media-wire/cornell-students-kill-bear-bring-it-into-residence-hall-to-skin-and-butcher/
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I would be beyond pissed off if a roommate or even someone close by did this!
WTF is wrong with people?
On edit: shortened for copyright

Ping Tung
(3,574 posts)Yet they maintain that humans are the very apex of evolution.
Bayard
(26,935 posts)It may not be illegal, (cops said,) but its seriously warped. They tried to, "process," it on the communal kitchen table!
GreenWave
(11,512 posts)jmowreader
(52,660 posts)Every bear in North America has trichinosis - theyre born with it.
StarryNite
(11,821 posts)
eppur_se_muova
(39,935 posts)choie
(6,042 posts)It's inhumane.
WhiskeyGrinder
(25,655 posts)Paladin
(31,566 posts)No excuse for this.
WhiskeyGrinder
(25,655 posts)eppur_se_muova
(39,935 posts)and where no one would have given them permission to do any such thing. Other students share this kitchen, and don't want bear parasites, bodily fluid, and offal anywhere near their food. If you did this in your own apartment, you'd likely violate your lease, and possibly local ordinances as well. College dorms have their own regulations, and this could not have been OK with Cornell's admin.
You couldn't slaughter a cow in a dorm kitchen. Just too unsanitary.
Now, carving up a side of beef -- if you were neat and cleaned up any mess, that wouldn't be much different from slicing any packaged meat you brought home from the butcher, or a frozen, gutted chicken. You can trust them to be reasonably clean, and to have been subject to inspection -- something of which a wild bear kill cannot be assumed.
What if they had dressed a deer, and gotten ticks all over the kitchen ? That could have spread Lyme disease, among other things.
There are a lot of reasons not to do this, and no good reason to do it.
WhiskeyGrinder
(25,655 posts)eppur_se_muova
(39,935 posts)People get evicted for loud stereos, blocking the walkway, pets where not allowed, all kinds of things that might seem kind of trivial to you but that the landlords have learned will cause big trouble if not dealt with strictly.
People who own or manage buildings generally have contracts for tenants to sign that have real legal teeth. In any disagreement between you and a landlord, bet on the landlord. It's just a fact of life you have to learn to live with. Don't be a dick to your landlord, or you'll have learn to live in the red light district where no tenant applicants are rejected and non-refundable rent deposits are through the roof.
Dorms may be a bit more relaxed than apartments, but people who get kicked out of dorms face a rude awakening when they start dealing with leases and landlords ("You got kicked out of your last apartment, so your application was rejected. No, you don't get your application fee back." , so it's best to live within dorm rules.
PS: I will never eat dinner at your house, no matter how grand or how freely offered, or how hungry I might be. If you think freshly killed animals are "clean", I hope for your family's sake that you keep your life insurance paid up.
BTW, inspection of factory meat is done because cows are brought in with all manner of diseases and parasites, and no small amount of shit clinging to them. Not every cow that enters a slaughter house does so under its own power, or even still breathing. (Yeah, it's illegal -- but if the inspector looks away ...)
WhiskeyGrinder
(25,655 posts)People get evicted for loud stereos, blocking the walkway, pets where not allowed, all kinds of things that might seem kind of trivial to you but that the landlords have learned will cause big trouble if not dealt with strictly.
Farmer-Rick
(12,061 posts)I do it outside. In private. Quickly and quietly. I clean up immediately and freeze the meat.
Even slaughter houses don't allow others or "visitors" unless they own the animals being processed.
This supposed processing was more like displaying their prowress and subjecting others to the smell.... it's pretty awful.... the mess, the blood splatter and the unsanitary conditions in a group kitchen others will have to use. Yuck!!!
WhiskeyGrinder
(25,655 posts)If you've drained it right, there's very little blood splatter. I'm not saying it wasn't rude, but it's very possible it wasn't nearly as gory or "unsanitary" as people are imagining.
Farmer-Rick
(12,061 posts)It doesn't sound like it. But maybe.
But yeah if they aren't taking out the intestines, stomach and skinning it in the kitchen, it's less smelly but still stinks of raw meat.
And there was no mention of it being hung to drain. That takes a couple of days. And it sounds like they brought the bear back immediately. But that's not clear.
But even if they had field dressed it and skinned it outside the kitchen, processing raw meat in a group kitchen can still lead to very unsanitary conditions.
No farmer I know processes meat in their regular kitchen. Cross contamination from raw meat can be seriously deadly. They either process the meat outside, take it to a slaughter house or rent a processing kitchen.
From the article: "Others were more worried about possible health violations and the contamination of a shared kitchen, The Cornell Daily Sun reported, quoting one Reddit user who noted that improperly prepared bear meat can be a carrier of parasites that cause trichinosis infection."
WhiskeyGrinder
(25,655 posts)Farmer-Rick
(12,061 posts)Than wild animals. It depends on the farmer.
If you look at the link in the post, it says cornell students kill bear bring it into residence hall to skin and butcher.
Processing an adult male bear weighing maybe about 300 pounds or a female averaging about 170 pounds is different than college kids frying up a couple pounds of meat. https://dec.ny.gov/nature/animals-fish-plants/black-bear
I didn't make the Trich comment I was quoting the article. Tell them they are wrong.
mainer
(12,426 posts)I helped my son process a deer he shot. It needed to be done in a cool area, certainly not a warm kitchen. As he skinned it, lice came dropping off. I cant imagine doing it inside the house.
Farmer-Rick
(12,061 posts)The ticks from deer are always a problem and I would never bring it inside to skin.
mainer
(12,426 posts)Either way, they were super gross.
Hekate
(99,368 posts)They created a serious public health hazard in a college communal dwelling.
If I had walked in on that scene I would have clutched no pearls.
I would have quietly called the cops, the Dept of Health, Animal Control officials, the college administration, and any other damn entity I could think of.
WhiskeyGrinder
(25,655 posts)What was the serious public health hazard?
Hekate
(99,368 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(25,655 posts)maxsolomon
(37,337 posts)because no one's ever thought about doing it before.
Turbineguy
(39,334 posts)Maybe the students intend to serve bear meat on their hotel menu..
choie
(6,042 posts)God sometimes I really hate people.
WhiskeyGrinder
(25,655 posts)Conjuay
(2,665 posts)I was under the impression that bear meat was close to inedible.
I know it's pretty 🐛 wormy.
Conjuay
(2,665 posts)I just read up on it a bit and I should be more concerned about a bear eating me than me eating a bear
Bluestocking
(282 posts)Look who people elected as President.
Response to Coventina (Original post)
PeaceWave This message was self-deleted by its author.
sl8
(16,806 posts)Last edited Fri Sep 12, 2025, 06:11 PM - Edit history (1)
Maybe these students should have attended. Assuming, of course, that dorms aren't aren't one of the proposed creative workarounds (I haven't watched it).
https://vod.video.cornell.edu/media/What+NowF%21+Creative+Slaughterhouse+Workarounds/1_3anjm9zk
WVreaper
(668 posts)People do hunt and kill wild game. And they eat it ! I once had a boss that fed himself and other by shooting deer and the eating it. They were hungry collage students. These students didn't shoot the bear trophy hunting. They shot the bear for food!
Dock_Yard
(241 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(25,655 posts)Dock_Yard
(241 posts)Especially by 'Nard Dog teens who certainly did not do this because they were pining after fresh venison for dinner.
And IMO, those who call hunting a "sport" are covering up for their need to dominate a lesser species via an extreme imbalance in weaponry. It can only be considered an honest sport if the hunter and the hunted have equal weaponry at their mutual disposal. So the human could only approach the bear (in this case) with a pair of sharply clawed gloves and some sort of sharply toothed jaw device activated by a manual grip.
Farmer-Rick
(12,061 posts)It was done in an unsanitary disgusting manner. The smell alone would fill the dorm sleeping area depending on how big it was. I wouldn't want to be cooking my dinner next to that mess. It should be done outside or in a slaughter house. There are processing kitchens you can rent.
I don't know of any farmers who process their meat in their regular kitchen. It's way too dangerous. Cross over contamination from raw meat can make you very ill and even kill you.
johnp3907
(4,114 posts)
Hope22
(4,154 posts)and found that my roommate was boiling her underwear in a spaghetti pot in the kitchen. I moved out the next day, no questions asked. I feel for these students who were subjected to this! They had it much worse.
3Hotdogs
(14,533 posts)So ya goes out, gets yourself as many guns as you can afford - maybe even some you can't afford. Then ya gets you a BMW or a Porsche. (Not a Mercedes. They're for old rich guys and old ladies.) and then ya feel like a man.
Now I don't have any guns and I drive a Hyundai. I never felt a need for a Porsche.
ecstatic
(34,917 posts)If you want to hunt and kill your own food, fine, but "process" the meat at your own, PRIVATE, home, ffs!
misanthrope
(9,128 posts)to earn any "edge lord" status from it. :eyeroll:
Farmer-Rick
(12,061 posts)Or taken it to a slaughter house.
misanthrope
(9,128 posts)Which fraternity?
milestogo
(21,730 posts)Silly journalism major.
littlemissmartypants
(29,674 posts)underpants
(192,827 posts)underpants
(192,827 posts)AverageOldGuy
(2,937 posts)Could have been biology students dissecting bear as class assignment.
😎🙄😉😊
mahatmakanejeeves
(66,628 posts)nilram
(3,330 posts)There's lots of different housing types at Cornell. I didn't see anything prohibiting butchering as I perused some of the contracts. If they clean up after themselves... maybe they should have a cookout later.
https://scl.cornell.edu/residential-life/housing/housing-details/rates-amenities-licenses/12-month-undergraduate-housing-license-2025-2026
Blue Owl
(57,308 posts)Orrex
(65,995 posts)Response to Coventina (Original post)
PeaceWave This message was self-deleted by its author.
Emile
(37,370 posts)to dinner. She cooked a bear roast that was delicious.
I_UndergroundPanther
(13,229 posts)By a professional you can get a nasty case of parasites. Should have taken it to a wild game butcher. If I killed a bear and planned on eating it I sure as hell would not butcher it myself. On a side note properly prepared bear meat is freaking delicious.omg.
Response to I_UndergroundPanther (Reply #53)
Random Person This message was self-deleted by its author.
DenaliDemocrat
(1,684 posts)Why does a carcass offend people who are not vegetarian?
Coventina
(28,677 posts)Butchering a carcass is a really dirty job, so doing it in a shared space is extremely rude.
Do you want intestines full of shit in your kitchen sink?
DenaliDemocrat
(1,684 posts)Ive done beef, pigs, sheep, goats, moose, elk, etc. My grandfather was a butcher and I was helping when I was 7 years old. All this stupid fucking pearl clutching over a piece of meat is exactly why we get crucified in the media. Assuming it was skinned outside, butchering is no worse than cutting up dinner. The mere fact that this made the national news is ridiculous. Some guys killed a game animal and butchered it in the kitchen they pay to live in. Where the fuck is the story?
Coventina
(28,677 posts)and butchered.
That sounds like a fully intact carcass to me.
Doing something like that in a shared space is rude bordering sociopathic.
DenaliDemocrat
(1,684 posts)You dont speak for everyone. A lot of people would be curious, maybe even fascinated. I have no tolerance for people who think meat comes from the grocery store wrapped in cellophane.
Coventina
(28,677 posts)I know very well where meat comes from.
I come from a hunting/fishing family myself.
That's why I'm a vegetarian.
DenaliDemocrat
(1,684 posts)Who think this is fucking stoooopid. I come from a long line of Italian butchers. Im a master wine and salumi maker. Im NOT a vegetarian.
Coventina
(28,677 posts)
DenaliDemocrat
(1,684 posts)For butchering some meat
Coventina
(28,677 posts)
Torchlight
(5,615 posts)and I'd bet a [aycheck I'm better off for it.
Hekate
(99,368 posts)Theres businesses that are set up to process the meat of wild animals and they also have meat storage lockers because those critters are very big.
I know this from 2 personal experiences, one when I was a small child and the other when I was over 60.
When I was a little kid, maybe 5 or 6 years old, one of my dads work-buddies brought down an elk. He gave some of the meat to my dad, and we ate that portion of elk for what seemed like forever. The meat was stored in a rented meat locker.
When I was an adult, my SIL offered me some ground deer meat. An amazing story unfolded, about how she taught both of her sons to hunt, before I ever knew her. Professionals did some of the butchering and cleaning work for them, including making sausage (a tricky process) and storing the meat they didnt have room for at home.
I think my SIL is an amazing woman. I think those boys at Cornell are young idiots.