Sometimes you hear about a law and it just makes you ask, “Why does that have to be a law?”

And then you realize it’s because someone out there has done it! And what’s worse, there are still some people who want to do it.

That’s a startling thought when you see that it is illegal to wrestle bears in Illinois as well as other states.

A no-brainer, right? Who in their right mind is going to go up against a massive bear in a one-on-one wrestling match?

Apparently, this 100-year-old sport still holds the interest of a small portion of our population, which has apparently led to the need for a law to prevent people from wrestling bears.

The first recorded bear wrestling match was December 11, 1877 at a beer shop located at 104 Prince Street, New York. The business owner was Emil Regnier, and in an effort to increase his shop’s business, he held a bear wrestling match in a 300-seat auditorium adjacent to his shop called Athletic Hall.

The show opened with wrestling matches between two young men. Then Regnier would appear in his white tights and blue trunks, accompanied by two circus bears and their handlers.

A man named Heyster, whose nickname was “Oak of the Rhine”, would be put up against the larger of the two bears in a wrestling match while Regnier took on the smaller one.

The bears wore iron muzzles and their claws had been filed down to help protect the men. Nothing, though, could be done to weaken the impressive might of the animals. It took a lot of effort by the men to actually overtake the bears and bring them down to the mat.

The bear wrestling matches were not a popular sport for long and died away shortly after Regnier ended his wrestling days.

That, however, has not stopped others from trying to bring in some extra money from the sport.

In 1992, police in Illinois put a stop to two wrestling matches. One was set to take place at Gazanders Tap with a 970-pound black bear names Caesar. The second match was set for the Blues Brothers Café with Siberian grizzly Terrible Ted.

Anyone who was brave (stupid) enough to take on the bears was welcome to try their luck. The owner of Terrible Ted, 37-year-old Andy Richard Walker, was arrested and charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty and disorderly conduct.

For anyone who thinks that bear wrestling sounds like a good time, consider the story of Brent Kandra. He was 24-years old when he was killed by a 400-pound black bear that he had wrestled with in the past.

Some laws out there might sound dumb, but in cases like bear wrestling you have to remember that those laws are there because someone has made it necessary.