from my very first encounter I’ve been
fascinated by this amazing animal the
more I learned the more I wanted to tell
their story and a little-known tale of
these Yellowstone Grizzlies is truly one
for the ages but my passion goes beyond
observing these bears in the wild you
see my feelings towards Grizzlies are a
little bit different than most people
maybe that’s because my best friend
weighs in at Oh about 800 pounds that’s
him there he’s a brown bear named Brutus
and I’ve raised him since birth let me
explain how it all started I was born in
Helena Montana in 1975 the same year the
Yellowstone grizzly bear was added to
the endangered species list growing up
surrounded by the Montana wilderness
it’s no surprise I quickly learned about
all the local wildlife by Montana
standards this bear was very tame
fast forward to college as I studied
biology I got more and more engaged in
the wilder side of things this is
patches the Wolverine and here’s Hershey
okie and rookie three river otters I got
to know well in the winter I ran a team
of sled dogs anything to be outside and
working with animals before I knew it I
was the curator at a wildlife park
visiting an elephant orphanage in Kenya
and hanging out with some amazing
crocodiles and yes these jobs come with
their occasional bumps and bruises like
the time amount line gave me a pretty
good thrashing but hey if it’s your
passion you’ll lick your wounds and turn
the corner and that led me straight to
Brutus
here he is about five months old
throughout my life I’ve been called the
animal magnet because animals always
seem to fly me but with Brutus well
seems like we pick one another sort of
like friends on the playground and we’ve
been going strong ever since when Brutus
outgrew the house we built him a
sanctuary and started attracting
visitors of all ages to teach them about
grizzly bear biology and conservation
Brutus is a born performer
so we began filming him as part of our
educational mission here he stars in a
picnic parade seen in a public service
video as you can see we’re on a movie
set here demonstrating why it’s so
important to keep a clean camp in
grizzly country Brutus has been a huge
part of my life he’s sort of like well
he actually was my best man
today Brutus is a six-year-old in the
prime of his life and at this point
we’ve been pals for so long that we
developed a unique relationship one that
means lots of interaction playing tag
and some playful wrestling I even get an
occasional grizzly kiss all things that
you would never think about doing under
ordinary circumstances in fact the trust
and respect that allows us to be this
close is simply one-of-a-kind in other
words do not try this at home
fascinated by this amazing animal the
more I learned the more I wanted to tell
their story and a little-known tale of
these Yellowstone Grizzlies is truly one
for the ages but my passion goes beyond
observing these bears in the wild you
see my feelings towards Grizzlies are a
little bit different than most people
maybe that’s because my best friend
weighs in at Oh about 800 pounds that’s
him there he’s a brown bear named Brutus
and I’ve raised him since birth let me
explain how it all started I was born in
Helena Montana in 1975 the same year the
Yellowstone grizzly bear was added to
the endangered species list growing up
surrounded by the Montana wilderness
it’s no surprise I quickly learned about
all the local wildlife by Montana
standards this bear was very tame
fast forward to college as I studied
biology I got more and more engaged in
the wilder side of things this is
patches the Wolverine and here’s Hershey
okie and rookie three river otters I got
to know well in the winter I ran a team
of sled dogs anything to be outside and
working with animals before I knew it I
was the curator at a wildlife park
visiting an elephant orphanage in Kenya
and hanging out with some amazing
crocodiles and yes these jobs come with
their occasional bumps and bruises like
the time amount line gave me a pretty
good thrashing but hey if it’s your
passion you’ll lick your wounds and turn
the corner and that led me straight to
Brutus
here he is about five months old
throughout my life I’ve been called the
animal magnet because animals always
seem to fly me but with Brutus well
seems like we pick one another sort of
like friends on the playground and we’ve
been going strong ever since when Brutus
outgrew the house we built him a
sanctuary and started attracting
visitors of all ages to teach them about
grizzly bear biology and conservation
Brutus is a born performer
so we began filming him as part of our
educational mission here he stars in a
picnic parade seen in a public service
video as you can see we’re on a movie
set here demonstrating why it’s so
important to keep a clean camp in
grizzly country Brutus has been a huge
part of my life he’s sort of like well
he actually was my best man
today Brutus is a six-year-old in the
prime of his life and at this point
we’ve been pals for so long that we
developed a unique relationship one that
means lots of interaction playing tag
and some playful wrestling I even get an
occasional grizzly kiss all things that
you would never think about doing under
ordinary circumstances in fact the trust
and respect that allows us to be this
close is simply one-of-a-kind in other
words do not try this at home
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