Brutus the Bear

We stopped by the Montana Grizzly Encounter yesterday. This is a small bear exhibit just outside of Bozeman, Montana. These bears have been born in captivity, usually in very poor conditions, and can never be released in the wild. When we arrived yesterday, Sheena (below) was wandering around. Brutus (above) had just dug himself a hole in the dirt and was relaxing in the shade. It was in the high 80s and grizzlies don't like the heat, so Brutus wasn't about to budge from his nice, cool spot. At least we got to see Sheena walking around for a bit before she settled behind a rock herself.

The last time we were at this place was in 2005 when we were first looking at homes near Helena. I guess it was a fairly new exhibit back then because it only opened in 2004. I have a bunch of pictures of Sheena from that first visit as well. She's 25 years old and I think Brutus is only about 9 or so. If you've ever seen the show Expedition Wild, you might have seen Brutus before. He's on there a lot with the founder of the Montana Grizzly Encounter, Casey Anderson. I was hoping Casey might be hanging around yesterday, but he wasn't. The girl in charge said Casey and Brutus are about to start filming new episodes soon. She said Brutus gets really excited when he hears Casey's truck because he loves going for rides. I don't want much television, but I might have to start watching this show.