“Why don’t people eat bear meat?”/“It’s too gristly.”

“Grizzly” sounds a little like “gristly.” A pun about bear meat is:
 
Q: Why don’t people eat bear meat?
A: It’s too gristly.
 
”“Well, I don’t like bear meat anyhow. It’s too gristly to suit me” was cited in print in 2005.
 
     
Wiktionary: gristle
Noun
gristle (countable and uncountable, plural gristles
1. Cartilage; now especially: cartilage present, as a tough substance, in meat.
 
Wikipedia: Grizzly bear
The grizzly bear (Ursus arctos ssp., less commonly known as the silvertip bear, is a large subspecies of brown bear inhabiting North America. Scientists generally do not use the name grizzly bear but call it the North American brown bear.
     
Google Books
Scarecrow in Gray
By Barry Yelton
Lincoln, NE: iUniverse
2005
Pg. 198:
“Well, I don’t like bear meat anyhow,” said Lester. “It’s too gristly to suit me.”
 
Straight Dope Message Board
Puns: Your personal best
Hal Briston
10-01-2008, 04:41 PM
A couple of years ago, there was a lot of debate raging here in Jersey about the number of bears finding their way into residential neighborhoods, and whether or not they should allow bear hunts.
 
While having a family talk about it, someone mentioned allowing the bear hunts, and donating the meat to homeless shelters. That prompted the following conversation between myself and my sister-in-law.
 
Her: Yeah, but can you eat bear meat?
Me: Sure…I’ve had it before.
Her: Really? How was it?
Me: Too gristly.
 
Twitter
CRW‏
@_ChevW
I tried some bear meat for dinner. I didn’t like it, it was too gristly!
5:15 PM - 20 Jun 2011
 
Twitter
6GodYongeEminem41‏
@neonwario
bear meat is too gristly.
3:30 PM - 29 Jan 2013
 
Twitter
Ignis, hangry 🐻‏
@IgnisHB
You know why people don’t eat bear meat?
Too gristly.
4:11 AM - 25 Jan 2017
   
Reddit—Jokes
A list of puns
submitted July 10, 2017 by Who_cares_about_name
(...)
COMMENTS
PartiesLikeIts1999
Why don’t people eat bear meat? It’s too gristly.