Criminal Grizzly Bears get a second chance to be helpful
You may have seen or heard of a story about a criminal that gets hired by the very people they were harming. Catch Me If You Can staring Leo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks is a movie about just that subject. Frank Abagnale was a con artist that later turned his knowledge of forging checks into a successful business helping other businesses making sure their documents are secure.
That is what has happened for these Grizzly bears. They were once roaming around breaking into cars, homes, and garbage cans. They started getting a bit too aggressive and their fear of humans was gone. Instead of euthanizing them (which is what normally happens in these situations) they were taken to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, MT.
These are Grizzlies that cannot survive in the wild, and now serve as ambassadors for their species. It allows people to observe and learn about Grizzlies and Wolves, two species that have plenty of misconceptions about them.
Not only do these bears now have a home, but they also have a job. The Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center have teamed up with the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee to let businesses that produce outdoor gear, especially food containers, to test in real world conditions.
Since these bears have already shown their expertise in breaking into items meant to hold food or garbage they make the perfect test subject to prove that businesses product is "bear resistant".
If you've got some outdoor gear that says "bear resistant" on it, it was these "criminal" bears in the video below that tested them out.
@jeffhyer Bear-Resistant Testing at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center | Yellowstone Series Episode 15 What makes something bear resistant? When you pay a visit to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center in West Yellowstone (which I highly suggest you do sometime) you’re going to notice a very peculiar display. You’re going to find a bunch of beat-up trash cans and coolers. This is the final resting place for products that tried to survive the bear-product testing. May they RIP. Let’s learn about the bear testing process and learn why it’s so important. Here’s a line to jot down in your notes: a fed bear is a dead bear. Don’t feed bears or let these animals gain access to any of your food. Make sure your garage cans are properly concealed and you don’t leave food behind when you eat outside. We don’t want bears to access our food because they become habituated and accustomed to unnatural food sources. This ultimately leads to them becoming more aggressive and dangerous, so to avoid more bears going to bear jail let’s make sure our food is out of their reach. Let’s keep them wild. If you want to learn more about wildlife all around the world, you’ve come to the right place. Follow me for more adventures! #Bears #BearTesting #Yellowstone ♬ original sound - Jeff Hyer
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Gallery Credit: Jesse James