They’re burly, hirsute and dogged with lingering queries about their proclivities in the woods; If you noticed a seeming migration of bears around Melbourne last week (no, the other kind of bears) that would be because the annual Southern Hibearnation event week was on here in Melbourne; celebrating all things bear in the gay community and culminating in the Mr Australasia Bear Competition, crowning a representative of the Australian and New Zealand bear community for the coming year.

Tom Morgan heads down to the festivities and spoke with each of this year’s contestants about what exactly defines a bear, their hopes for the title, and gave them a little practise at their pageant answers ahead of the competition including this year’s winner Dale, from Habour City Bears in NSW.

This segment aired on The Informer on JOY 94.9 on 19th June 2018