Onetime grizzly bear trainer Casey Anderson says in the video above that though we tend to depict grizzlies as “mankillers and bloodthirsty beasts,” we actually need them. As he puts it: “The real battle is helping people understand that they’re not monsters.” The grizzly in the video, Brutus, certainly helps his case.
Our view of grizzly bears comes from tales like the horrific mauling of Timothy Treadwell, whose story is told in Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man. But Anderson seeks to present the importance of bears, especially to the children he and his massive subject visit, seeing himself as a voice for the animals. For one thing, he likes to point out that bears are considered an “umbrella species,” because their well-being can indicate how well nearby species, like amphibians and butterflies, are faring.
Anderson was born in East Helena, Montana, and has worked at wildlife parks, visited elephant orphanages in Kenya, and spent time with crocodiles. He’s no romantic about how powerful wildlife can be—ask him about one particular mountain lion—but he wants to see us embrace a more compassionate view of grizzlies. Those close-up GoPro shots of Brutus are a start.
