Fortress of the Bear

Today Kolt & I went to the Fortress of the Bear, a rescue center for orphaned brown bears here in Sitka.  There were two four-year old bears, Killisnoo & Chaik, in one tank & three two-year old bears, Toby, Lucky, & Baloo in another tank.  Each tank is ¾ acre, one is 17ft tall & the other is 14ft tall, both have ponds with salmon.  We were on a covered viewing platform between the two tanks.  The Fortress of the Bear is a non-profit organization the is run by volunteers.  They take in cubs who have lost their parents & most of the time are starving & extremely small & sickly looking.  They can not sell the bears to zoo’s or anything so the bears are usually donated.  One of their most recent cubs, Lucy, was given to Casey Anderson’s organization, Montana Grizzly encounter.  Casey Anderson is the guy who has a show on Nat Geo about Brutus the bear.  I took a bunch of pictures & some videos, but these are the only bears we have seen since we’ve been in Alaska.  

Killisnoo was my favorite.  He seemed to really like people & was very animated.  When we first arrived, Killisnoo & Chaik, who I believe are brothers, were sitting by a stump looking up at us.  Chaik eventually got bored & went to sit by the pond, Killisnoo would walk around but when people were looking at him over the side of the tank, he would come back & stare at them like they had food for him.  When the trainer told Killisnoo to “be fierce” he would open his mouth wide & show is teeth.  You expect a loud growl to come out but he was very quiet.  He climbed along some tree stumps & came to the edge of the tank & stood up all the way to see us.


 Killisnoo & Chaik

 

Killisnoo

Chaik

Toby, Lucky, & Baloo were also siblings I think.  Toby liked the water & he came to the edge of the tank to see us at one point.  He was standing on a wet tree stump & when the trainer told him to “show us how you pray” he let go with his two front hands, stood up & put his hands together like he was praying.  It didn’t last long though because he slipped & slid down the stump like he was on a slide.  Lucky & Baloo got aggressive with each other over food a couple times while we were there but I didn’t catch it on video. 

Toby, Lucky, & Baloo

Toby

Lucky & Baloo

They also had a small petting zoo type area with some ducks, geese, sheep, goats, & a mini horse.