Grizzly Come Home Campaign

Grizzly Come Home Campaign. Big Bear Alpine Zoo. , In January 1996: A family of "Three Strikes" Grizzly Bears were captured outside of Yellowstone National Park. US Fish and Wildlife Bear Management guidelines directed the rangers to either find them a permanent home in a zoological facility within 24 hours of capture or they must be dispatched. Woodland Zoo in Seattle Washington offered the bears a temporary home until a permanent home was found. Big Bear Alpine Zoo had the space and interest in acquiring the bears. The Friends of the Big Bear Alpine Zoo were charged with raising $55,000 in six weeks to bring this family of Grizzly Bears to Big Bear. Fundraising was a success, mainly through the Adopt a Brick Program. , Overall, the Friends raised a total of $108,000 as well as received donated goods. The Grizzly Bear Family, Tutu, Ayla, and Harley arrived at their new home on May 10, 1996. , Grizzly Bear , When Man Meets Animal , Grizzly bears, a sub-species of the brown bear, once roamed much of western North America and the Great Plains. Habitat loss due to logging, mining, and spreading human development cause bears and humans to come into contact. Early European settlers hunted grizzly bears, eliminating them from much of its original range. Today, roads pose a dangerous threat to grizzly bears. Many roads now transect historic bear habitat and in order for bears to move between wilderness corridors, they must cross the roads often heavily traveled by vehicles. , Special Adaptations , Grizzly bears are well adapted to survive seasonal changes. Highly intelligent with an incredible sense of smell, grizzlies can detect food from great distances. During warmer months, they eat massive amounts of food, eating everything from fruits, berries, nuts, leaves, insects, and a variety of animals in order to store enough fat to live off during the winter when food is scarce. During fall, grizzly bears use their long claws and strong shoulders to dig dens, which they use to hibernate in during the winter months. Hibernation allows the grizzly bear to conserve energy during the lean winter months.