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Perhaps the most famous of modern grizzlies was Bart, a 1,500-pound male Kodiak bear who starred in many commercials, television shows, and feature films.
Bart was born on January 10, 1977, to a pair of captive grizzly bears at a zoo. His grandparents came from the Kodiak and Chichagof Islands off the coast of Alaska. When he was 5 weeks old, Bart was sold to animal trainer Doug Seus, owner of the Wasatch Rocky Mountain Wildlife Ranch located near Herber City, Utah.
 | | Bart and his owner, Doug Seus |
Seus and his wife, Lynne, bottle-fed the baby until he was 11 months old and weighed 300 pounds. At that point they built the bear his own house.
When Bart was 8 years old and weighed about 1,000 pounds, he strolled by two of Seus's tame deer, who promptly died of shock at the sight.
By the age of ten, Bart was getting so big that Seus had to take the bear in the back of a pickup truck to the local carwash for a bath.
Bart grew to be 9.5 feet tall and consumed about 60 pounds of food a day. His house opened onto a spacious pasture with large cottonwoods, a stream and a swimming hole. Bart's training consisted of love and affection, with no force, drugs or tranquilizers. When he performed an action correctly, he was given a reward. His favorite treats were apples, pear juice, and carrots. He also liked hamburgers and pineapple mild shakes. Bart died on May 18, 2000, from cancer, at the age of 23. |
