Life cut short for a male grizzly bear! Grizzly bear #163, his story!

The Bear Guy
The Bear Guy
447,554
0
Published 2022-01-15
Male bears right out of the gate have it tough. Mom usually shows it tough love especially when it is time to part ways when they reach 2-3 years of age. These young males will float around in their mother's territories visiting all the locations she taught him, but he is on borrowed time. He will have to leave. Like females especially with cubs, these adolecent bears choose to stay around high human activity knowing large dominant male bears won't enter these areas, using us to shield themselves. At this age these bears have no status or rank and will be ran off by females and potentially killed by males. Usually they start to wander off at the age of 3-5 once they have put on enough size and weight, hopefully with the ability to compete with the big boys. Their travels usually take them to premium food sources much richer than you find in their mother's home range, but sometimes it leads them to becoming opportunistic when it comes to attaining foods. Many males end up being destroyed for getting into garbage, fruit trees, livestock, etc, it is how they become massive and the most dominant bears. It creates human/wildlife conflict issues with the bear losing out in most cases.
For me, this bear, GB# 163 was an amazing bear to work with for his first three years, but as soon as he traveled into BC and to the townsite of Elkford I knew he was on borrowed time. I drove 400km to check on him and his growth was huge, he was the biggest three year old I had seen. There was tons of images and videos of him climbing fences to feed on fruit trees, or flipping garbage cans, feeding on roadside carcasses not cleaned up, many times with another bear. With no actual bear aversion management I volunteered to come work him out of town knowing I could, but politics and provincial borders kept that from happening. Like so many other bears his fate was doomed and a decision was made to have him destroyed. I got the sad news that went along with the news GB# 162, also a male from our area in Alberta, followed that route down the Elk Valley and was struck and killed by Sparwood, as well as GB# 148, a Banff/Bow Valley female grizzly who was shot after being relocated in BC, part of the province's last hunts before it was officially closed. 2017 was rough on the bears of the area.
All Comments (21)
  • @shellbell2117
    Actually saddened me He was Soo beautiful he was not even bad bear 🐻
  • @burtharbenson8860
    The speed those bears went up that incline, and seemingly increased their stamina and power the further they ran. At that weight to run like that is absolutely astonishing
  • @robertwaid3579
    To The Bear Guy. That was Truly Wonderful about #GB 163 & His Short unfortunate Life. Did you just get the News Last week from Wyoming. About GB#399s Two n Half yr Old Male Cub #1057. That it Similarly had to be Euthanized, Down in the the Upper Green River area for getting into Numerous Trouble with Humans. It Seems like Thier Young Lives n Adventure's aren't too Much Different from Our Own. Thanks again for Sharing. Wyo, Robert,πŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡ΈπŸ‡¨πŸ‡¦πŸ‡Ί
  • @GT-mn3bx
    Watching them run is crazy. They haul the mail, even uphill.
  • @deanlawson6880
    Awww... What a well done and nice video documenting the short life of this magnificent bear. Thanks for putting this together and sharing this out so we could all appreciate him. RIP to Grizzly 163.
  • @MLJ7424
    Rip 163 , you were a good boy
  • @tracyjohnstoncaruso6065
    He was magnificent. So sad he's gone. Thank you for following and sharing his story with us. RIP
  • @TruthAboutHeaven
    A really enjoyable video. Thanks for making it, and all the time you spent in the woods finding the bears to video! Five plus gold stars!
  • @milkaicex9199
    It's a great pity that animals always pay for human negligence.🐻
  • @lllSTRIK3Rlll
    Not easy being so cute and helpless, sweet mama bear can only do so much. Wish i had a big land and they can all live there protected.
  • @willstuart4504
    I know how this story makes Me feel.... can't imagine how devastating learning of this would've been for YOU?!? It's a sad thing when a beautiful bear dies at the hands of Humans, for the safety of Humans, for no other reason except a bear being a bear searching for food. And of course he pays the ultimate price for having HIS natural habitat constantly infringed upon... πŸ€” It's not surprising this happens but it's still disturbing, and I can imagine after following and looking out for this young Bear #163 for his entire life... that hearing this news bothers you deeply. All you can do is take solice in knowing he was a Happy bear, and a Good bear... and because of You, the world now gets to see this too. πŸ‘πŸ‘ Well done ma
  • @user-wz8fb7nz3u
    I totally enjoyed watching your video. Bears remind me so much of big playful puppy dogs. It's amazing how they retain their family bonds. His demise broke my heart for him and for you too!! It's hard when there's nothing one can do to save wildlife, especially when we have a bond with them and know they are good. πŸ’”
  • @nilolins
    First time watching one of your vids. Thank you , great stuff. Didn't know GBs were so social. Sad what happened to GB 163!
  • @jeannepeters8836
    Beautiful footage.. Very sad story of a magnificent bear. 🌻🐻🐾🌿🌷🐾 RIP 163