Montana Grizzly Encounter: At Home with Livingston's Largest Celebrity

At the top of Bozeman pass, wide vistas of high mountains span the horizon.  A sign points to Jackson Creek Road and an impressive log-sided enclosure marks the boundary of grizzly bear terrain.  Inside the boundary, two 20-year old females, a 7-year-old juvenile male and two 3-year-old cubs forage for food, root in the spring grass, swim in a deep pool and climb boulders for a better view of their surroundings.  

At the entrance to the enclosure is an unassuming sign, “Montana Grizzly Encounter,” but inside the high chain-link fence it is apparent that Brutus, Christy, Shina, Jake, and Maggie are much more than another roadside attraction.

The oldest male, Brutus, is sometimes visible from the highway, sniffing the air from the high rocks surrounding his concrete enclosure.  At nearly 950 pounds, Brutus is arguably Livingston’s largest new celebrity co-host of a national television series.

National Geographic Wild recently aired the first of many episodes starring Brutus in  “Expedition Grizzly.”  Owner Casey Anderson narrates commentary on wild animal behavior in the national forest near Yellowstone Park and then simulates the action with Brutus as the obliging sidekick/stunt bear.

Brutus is an obvious showman.  During a later video conference interview via skype with Oprah Winfrey, Brutus appears to be a camera hog and natural ham.  Easily influenced by sugary treats, he happily attempts to follow instructions for a screen test before settling front and center of attention.

“We call him ‘King Brutus,’” Anderson says,”He can’t catch a fish...We imagine he’d want his salmon sauteed in butter and garnished with lemon.”

Due to the publicity from the National Geographic show, Anderson says he has heard from people around the world—from China to New Zealand and South Africa—who have been amazed by this nearly-mature grizzly who appears as sensitive and playful as an oversized collie pup.

Three years ago, Anderson remarked that Brutus was a “young actor,” and now he is coming into his prime of life, acting in Animal Planet commercials, stealing scenes in feature films and working in public service announcements.

Brutus was born in a captive breeding facility in Idaho but the facility could not sell the bear and was prepared to euthanize him when Grizzly Encounter intervened.

“Brutus went from being ‘unknown result’ to one of the most famous grizzly bears in the world right now,” says Anderson, who, along with Montana Grizzly Encounter manager Amy Otten has raised the bear from his birth.

A Place to Call Home

Montana Grizzly Encounter is the 6-year-old brainchild of bear activist, biologist and animal enthusiast Anderson, a child that was born out of seeing the bad side of captive wildlife,  “Most of it is strictly for profit with no effort to give back to the animals,” says Anderson.  

With captive animals often comes a controversy that a circus mentality is present.  “Everyone would hope there would be no captive animals,” says Anderson, “but these bears cannot live in the wild.”

While both Anderson and Amy Otten travel with Brutus to film shoots or for public appearances, Otten is the primary manager of the facility, and lives on-site to monitor all of the bears on a daily basis.  “It’s not a job, it’s a life,” Otten says.

Each bear at Grizzly Encounter has a unique history.  Recently, the staff at the site chose to invest in helping two new bears rather than continue ornamental improvements in the bear enclosure.

“The cubs were worth it,” says Otten.

The 3-year-old cubs, a male and a female, were living in dog kennels before being transferred to a zoo in Oregon.  The zoo was unable to house the animals and Grizzly Encounter stepped up to offer their facility.

“The older girls didn’t want to be outside so much anymore,” says Anderson of the two 23-year-old twin female bears, Christy and Shina.  Having the extra space outside allowed the staff at Grizzly Encounter to take on the sizable commitment of the two additional cubs, one of which may grow to be an adult male larger than Brutus, notes Anderson.

The twin females were the first bears to come to the facility.  The bears had been purchased for use in a circus but their owners never trained them.

“They had great plans for the little cubs,” says Anderson, “but they didn’t realize it’s really difficult to make money with bears.”  Instead, the owners kept the bears in small 6-foot cages for almost 18 years.

“The cages were just hosed out and food was thrown in,” Anderson says, “and the only lock on the gate was a rope.  They could have opened the door with one swat but they were so used to their captivity.”

When the bears first came to the facility, Anderson released them from their kennels and they walked 

over the first hill.

“They hated it,” Anderson says, “They had lived in these small cages in a dense wooded area and I think being able to see and smell—it scared them.  It took them two weeks to finally come around.”

When Christy and Shina started to get used to their surroundings, “They got in the pond and swam like little cubs,” Anderson says.  “Just what a little blade of grass was to them—it was amazing.”

Anderson notes that the older females and the younger additions will not be trained for performance as Brutus.  “They are bears that do not have the same connection with us,” says Anderson, “but we still want to provide the best life possible for them.”

“Brutus is a showman by nature,” Anderson adds, “He enjoys mental stimulus and a challenge...We only allow him to perform because he enjoys it.”

Although there are plans for future updates to the facility, including a trout aquarium and the replication of granite on the interior walls, at present taking care of the five bears is a considerable commitment.

Feed the Bears

  

Manager Amy Otten says donations from Lee and Dad’s IGA in Belgrade provide the main food source for the bears, along with donations from many local meat markets and game processors.

“The only reason bears hibernate is because of scarce food supplies in the wild,” says Otten.  The five bears at Grizzly Encounter stay awake all winter, and require a full diet year-round.

Otten notes that it’s sometimes difficult to find donated food sources to fit the requirements and needs of the bears.  Some sources require daily pickup or taking more than the bears would need at one time, like 15 pallets of frozen chicken recently donated from an Idaho food bank.  She notes that in such a case they were lucky because the food bank is storing the extra pallets and letting them take the chicken as needed.

Otten says donations of food for the bears are always welcome, and Grizzly Encounter staff can coordinate pickups on a regular or one-time basis.

The bears are 70 percent vegetarian and eat all kinds of vegetables and fruits as well as bison, elk, venison, chicken and bacon scraps.  Grizzly Encounter feeds the bears in their kennels and also stashes food within the enclosure every morning so the bears get to forage.

Brutus eats 35 pounds of food a day alone.  Anderson notes that bears in the wild will need to consume over 20,000 calories a day and sometimes have a range of over 3,000 miles.  “Some say that’s why the bears in Yellowstone are smaller.  They have to forage for food in a small area.  They have a hard life.”

Connecting to the Wild

One of the main objectives of Grizzly Encounter, and Brutus’ work on film, is to educate the public about bears.

“A lot of tourists come just off the highway on their way to Yellowstone or Glacier,” says Otten, making it a prime time to educate visitors about traveling in bear country.  The facility not only provides various educational and safety advisory placards on display at the bear enclosure, but also provides reference tools and even bear pepper spray in the office.  Admission to Grizzly Encounter is free for local schools, “because these kids are the future of bears’ preservation and conservation,” says Anderson.  

Often referring to Brutus as “an ambassador for his wild cousins” Anderson cites the bear’s ability to now reach millions of people.  Nearly 40 wild grizzlies died in the last year and Anderson says many of these deaths could have been avoided if people traveling through the wilderness were better informed about being in grizzly country.

A handsome and well-behaved grizzly can do wonders for perception and attention spans, says Anderson, admitting that Brutus’ showmanship is a hook.  “But it’s an effective hook,” he adds, “We can make a difference.”  The more people Brutus reaches, the more people may be inclined to pay attention to the plight of the wild grizzly currently facing habitat destruction and fragmentation in America’s wild lands.

As for Anderson’s on-camera interactions with the 950-pound Brutus, “I am very aware that he’s a grizzly bear and he could swap my head off with one whack,” Anderson stresses in nearly every public interview.  “This connection...comes from years of experience and training, and by no means should anybody ever be this close to a grizzly bear, whether it’s in the wild or in captivity.”

Plans to continue to connect viewers with wildlife will commence with the next scheduled episode of National Geographic Wild with Anderson which will feature Madison and Teton, two wolves Grizzly Encounter helped to place in the Wolfkeep facility near Potomac, Mont.  “It will be an insider’s view of wild wolves,” says Anderson.  The episode will attempt to dispel myths about the wolf as well as educate viewers about the animal’s habits and habitat.

Further episodes will feature an expedition to Kodiak, Alaska to film wild bears and attempt to teach Brutus to fish, and a predator/pray episode featuring the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

“Expedition Grizzly,” the first in the series, ran earlier this month but will air again on the National Geographic Channel.  Visit nationalgeographic.com or more information.

Grizzly Encounters

The five bears at Montana Grizzly Encounter Rescue and Education Sanctuary were born in captivity and could not today survive in the wild.  All were destined to be euthanized before arriving at the facility but now live peacefully within the enclosure, providing entertainment for passerby and facilitating the opportunity for bear awareness and education.

“We want to bring people in to see the bears but also fill them full of useful information.  We are trying to give back to the wild bears,” says Anderson.

Volunteers are always encouraged at the facility, says Manager Otten.  Although volunteers do not get to directly physically interact with the bears or enter their dens or enclosures, they are needed to become bear educators, work the ticket booth, and for general maintenance.   

Donations of Simple Green cleaner, blankets and any type of fruit are also welcome.  Otten says the Grizzly Encounter staff attempts to avoid feeding bears directly from the viewing platform of their enclosure to discourage begging behavior.  Vistors are welcome, however, to bring fruits for the bears which the bears will eat at mealtimes.

Montana Grizzly Encounter, located off Interstate 90 at the Jackson Creek Road exit, is open from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. every day with expanded hours in the summer.  For more information, call 586-8893 or visit the bears on the web at grizzlyencounter.com or brutusthebear.com. 

—Reilly Neill

PHOTOS BY LINDSAY WRIGHT

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