No, Hundreds of Black Bears Have NOT Taken Over a Missouri Road

Oh, internet, what shall we do with you? For now, go stand in the corner until you've fully regretted your actions as I can prove that hundreds of black bears have not taken over a highway in Missouri.

If you've seen a share on Facebook/Meta from Realist Natives, you know what I'm talking about. They assert "A group of wild black bears has taken over highway 65 near Branson Missouri. This is abnormal and attributed to the change in temperatures due to climate change." No, it doesn't actually.

The photo they shared looks real, but it's been generated by artificial intelligence. So many people have seen this and have been sharing it that Snopes has even taken the time to debunk it. For the record, I don't always trust Snopes either as I believe they may have an agenda of their own, but in this case they're correct.

I saw that Branson Area Breaking News (which is admittedly a satire page) has also had fun with this fake black bear takeover of "highway 65". For the record, Highway 65 is a real highway near Branson and there are black bears in the woods in that part of Missouri. But, they don't normally dwell on roadways especially in bunches.

We live in an era where when you see something outlandish, you have to at least think and/or investigate that robots are messing with you. If it looks too crazy to be true, it probably is and bears taking over a Missouri highway is included in that group.