1 Russell Chadwick remembers the summer he turned 16 it was the time he wrestled with grizzly bear!
5 Russell’s adventure started when he came to stay at Wasatch Rocky Mountain Wildlife, am animal training center in Utah. The center is run by Doug and Lynne Seus, who train wild animal to be actors in television and movies.
10 Doug and Lynne asked high-school student Russell to help them take care of care of two four-month-old grizzly bear cubs called Little Bart and Honey Bump. That’s more difficult than it sound, because even baby bears are pretty big.
Russell’s job was to play with the bears to get them used to humans. At the same time, he had to remember that movie bears are still wild animal:
15 “One time Bump took a bite out of my back, and I had to wrestle her to the ground. But it also showed me how smart she is. She had done something wrong and ‘apologized’ by putting her head in my lap.
20 Russell found that bears can understand more than just “sit” and “stay”. For example, when Russell called out “Peekaboo!” to the adult bear, Tank, he covered his eyes with his paws, just like a little kid.
25 Although he didn’t get a large fee for the job, Russell says he values the experience more than money. When you’ve wrestled with a grizzly bear, things like work and exams don’t seem so difficult anymore!