Dear Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»,
I really enjoy reading your blog and I wanted to introduce you to yet another reason why Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»is Awesome! I work (and live) at the where we look after a small pack of timber wolves, a barn owl and two orphaned Grizzly Bears named Grinder and Coola.
Back in 2001, Grinder and Coola arrived at Grouse Mountain in North Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»as young, 8 month old, cubs. Grinder had been found near the town of Invermere in the Rocky Mountains and was near death from starvation when found. When some forestry workers brought him to a nearby veterinarian he quickly doubled his weight! Around the same time Coola was found on a roadside near Bella Coola and at the side of his mother who had been struck and killed by a vehicle. Both bears were facing humane destruction as no rehabilitation for Grizzly Bears was being offered. Grouse Mountain intervened and offered to set up a large, five acre, mountaintop habitat for the bears. Here we were able to watch them and learn what young cubs know instinctually and what the mothers much teach them. Through these observations we’ve learned a lot that can be used to help future orphaned cubs.
I’ve worked with Grinder and Coola for nine years now and they still continue to amaze me and show me that there is a lot more to being a bear than most people realize. They both have very distinct personalities, with Grinder being the adventurous outgoing bear and Coola the more reserved and thoughtful one. Grinder tends to rush into things and act before he thinks while Coola sits back, watches, and bases his reaction on what happens to Grinder. They are very playful, having a wrestling session just about every day and enjoy each other’s company immensely – in fact they are rarely found apart from one another.
The refuge here on Grouse Mountain provides some really cool and unique viewing opportunities. The habitat itself is just five acres of natural mountainside that, with the exception of widening their ponds, have left alone. There are many natural berry bushes for the bears to forage on and many old stumps and logs for them to rip apart in search of bugs. We do not train the bears and Grinder and Coola are so used to people being around that they don’t react to an audience and just go about their day the same way they would if no one was watching. I feel this allows us to get a much clearer, more natural, observations of bear behavior. If they were preoccupied with people being around, this would bias their behaviors but because they don’t care, we get to see their natural behaviors.
We feel that Grinder and Coola lead natural, enriched lives here at the refuge and that it is a real treat and a privilege to share what we’ve learned about them with both tourists and locals alike. They have regular visits from locals who have watched them grow up here and visit them often throughout the summer.
This year Grinder and Coola emerged from hibernation on April 19th and are currently in their hibernation habitat while we set up their large, summer area. I’ve attached some photos of them having a relaxing day here yesterday. They had an extended play wrestle session followed by some long naps in the sun. There is something absolutely amazing about watching two incredibly large bears wrestle a few feet in front of you.
I would highly encourage anyone with a love for wildlife to come up and say hi! Hanging out with Grinder and Coola is definitely – awesome!
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