An adorable baby bear cub named Bella may be the closest thing to a real-life teddy bear that you’ll ever get to see! She’s a happy go lucky grizzly bear who doesn’t mind being picked up, hugged, and cuddled. In fact, one of her favorite things to do is play and have her feet tickled. As strange as that sounds, she absolutely loves it and this clip of her smiling and happily rolling around is proof in point (around the 28 second mark).
Even though Bella looks safe and secure now, the early part of her life was anything but that. She was just a young cub when she was found all alone in the wilds of Alaska. Her mother was nowhere in sight and without human intervention she faced certain death.
Thankfully she was rescued and brought to the Montana Grizzly Encounter, a sanctuary and education center run by Casey Anderson. Anderson’s wildlife refuge takes in both orphaned bears and ones that have been held in captivity their entire lives. Those bears are often too used to human contact and lack the skills they’d need to survive in nature.
Anderson is a naturalist and a grizzly bear expert. He’s no novice when it comes to teaching, training, caring for, and interacting with grizzlies of all ages. These days he hosts two Nat Geo WILD shows, America the Wild with Casey Anderson and Expedition Wild, but his passion for rescuing bears started back in 2002.
That’s when he saved his first Grizzly, whom he later named Brutus, and since then he’s expanded to educating not only the public about bears, but the bears themselves! What you see in the clip is him teaching Bella important life lessons. By tickling her feet he’s accomplishing several things at once.
He’s bonding with her, making her comfortable around him, and most important of all, he’s asserting and establishing his dominance over her. That way, when she grows up into a hugely powerful bear, she’ll be less inclined to injure or kill him or other people.
Instilling boundaries and showing what is acceptable and what’s not at a young age is key to training and adapting a bear to life at a sanctuary. Bella will have to share her new home with other bears in the future and these lessons extend into making her interactions with them as smooth and peaceful as possible.
Anderson is an experienced professional who managed to turn his love and passion for bears into a fulfilling and successful career rescuing and rehabilitating them.
He’s living the American dream and judging by this video Bella also appears to be doing extremely well. One day she’ll make a fine adult Grizzly Bear when she’s all grown up.
Please Share Bella’s Story With Family and Friends Who Need a Smile Today! 🙂
