Our Big Bear Family

Our Big Bear Family

JIM KOWALCZIK: We’re one big bear family! JIM KOWALCZIK: Our bear family is like every other family and stuff, you love them to
death, but there’s other times they drive you nuts, right? COMM: Jim and Susan run a centre for orphaned wildlife in Otisville, New York. SUSAN KOWALCZIK: I’m there every day, but he is the one that walks in the door and everybody
lights up. You know and it’s kind of funny, because they just love him to death. SUSAN KOWALCZIK: Come on, go inside or get out of the way! And I’m the one that does
all the work and he just has to walk in the door. COMM: This is Jimmy, a 21-year-old Kodiak bear rescued from a closing wildlife park.
He’s just one of the eleven bears that lives with them. JIM KOWALCZIK: They’ll knock you around a little bit and stuff, nothing, you know,
not maliciously, you know, but you gotta watch you don’t get scratched or poked in the
eye or something. Hey! You know better than that, what’re you doing? It’s all right. They could kill you, you know. He’d just have to hit you on time. COMM: Kodiak bears are one of the largest species in the world. SUSAN KOWALCZIK: He’s about 1400lbs and if he stood up on you on his hind legs, he’d
probably be about 9 feet tall. JIM KOWALCZIK: Think the strongest person you know or whatever and you can magnify that
by a thousand times. Yeah, he’s big! I mean, a small bear will kick your butt and he’s
got so much strength, all he would have to do is lay on you. SUSAN KOWALCIZK: He’s like them, he’s like a bear. He has no, no fear of them, it’s
really amazing! JIM KOWALCZIK: We’ve had Jimmy for 21 years now, got him as a little cub and he’s been
with us his whole life. COMM: Taking care of bears throughout their lives means that Jim and Susan develop deep
bonds with the animals. Interviewer: It’s actually the same as somebody who is mourning their child. Susan: Yeah, it’s, you know, it’s the same thing. You spend a lot of time with them, we care so much for them. We lost 4 altogether so far here. Jim: Would be just like burying one of your family members. I can’t do this! COMM: Back at the centre, it’s lunchtime. COMM: In the wild, these bears need to eat up to 90lbs of food every day. Everything
from baby elks to spawning salmon, berries and plants. JIM KOWALCZIK: You guys ready to eat? COMM: And here the bears enjoy a daily diet of meat, grains, breads, fruit and veg, with
the occasional marshmallow treat. JIM KOWALCZIK: These bears once in a while, they’re always looking for food, they really
don’t want for anything other than attention. COMM: One of the other bears at the centre is Jenny. SUSAN KOWALCIZK: When the bears are little and they’re with their mother, after they
drink their milk, they’ll suckle on her for a time and they, they make this little
noise that you hear. She just never grew up, she still does this. She looks at me as if
I’m her mother. When she gets to the pinky, she likes to just bite down on that pinky.
I love being around her and I’m happy that she feels that way about me still after all
these years. Oh peanuts? All right, I have some peanuts. SUSAN KOWALCIZK: It’s all a wonderful thing to watch them grow up and, and to have them
JIM KOWALCIZIK: They’re like your children, that’s how much you love them. And they
give a lot back to you too, you know they, they love you just as much. Sometimes you
take it for granted, but it is a special relationship. SUSAN KOWALCZIK: Yeah, the bears are everything to me. I, I would do anything for them. I
spend all day with them every day. JIM KOWALCIZK: This is our life and we’re one big bear family!

100 thoughts on “Our Big Bear Family

  1. so nobody remembers what happened to Timothy Treadwell?? smh the guy was around these things for over 15 yrs and he ended up enduring. the worst painful death imaginable along with his girlfriend.

  2. I have to spend 60-70 a week at a job I hate and being miserable because I have to, and then there are these people who get to spend every day doing this. Life f'ckng sucks and is unfair.

  3. If I push my dog Poocho disrespectfully not saying excuse me he bites me, and he bites me, bites me again, I can't imagine if he was that strong as the bear

  4. I love bears but I wouldn’t be able to be that trusting. Even if they are completely tame they might do something they think is playing but to a human can be life or death

  5. You know, a lot of attacks on people in situations like this is because those people don't have a genuinely good relationship with the animals. There's a lot of stuff you don't see. These two are the real deal though. They have about as deep of a bond with animals as humans can have with them. The bears trust them as their own because these two treat them as their own.

  6. What kind of Morons would give this a negative rating ????????? Evil and Unloving People, that's who ! What a Touching and Beautiful video this is ……. God Bless You for all the Kindness you're giving these Wonderful Creatures.

  7. You have to remember those are still bears, they still have bear characteristics no matter how you train em to be good it's just in em. But salute to the family for making it work with the bear center

  8. Bear walks up to Robber who just broke in the property.
    Robber drops to a cradle position and whispers "im a Bush"

  9. And in six months we'll be seeing a YouTube video about how this poor guy came home to his wife mauled to death by their loving family pet.. it is kind of cool but let's be honest. This is not a pet. This is not a loving animal that's been bred through generations to be docile. It's a goddamn grizzly bear and you think it's your buddy. I'll be waiting for the GoFundMe page so I can point and laugh.

  10. 2:40 Man the way he just breaks and walks off camera. This man loves these bears like they are his children there is no doubt about it.

  11. The most interesting part about this video are the people stealing original comments and reposting them as their own

  12. Robber: enters house
    🐻: (lick chops) hello we’re hungry
    Robber: oh I’ll feed you you want fish?
    🐻: no
    Robber: ok then what do you want to eat?
    🐻: you, you look yummy

  13. Really nice video but it scares me, seen too many of these videos where the bear or lion or tiger turns on their owner, only takes a second to cause horrendous damage

  14. I get it Jim ! I've lost 17 rescue dogs to old age. My heart continues to ache especially for one large one who's name was BEAR . Lost him in 2011

  15. Amazing……these people I mean. [:-)] You can tell how kind people really are by how they treat animals……of course these are BIG animals. [:-)] Amazing.

  16. What an amazing bond they have with them. I just don’t think I could be in a pen with a bear, even if it was the nicest bear ever. The fact that it would take about 2 seconds for one of them to “Leonardo DiCaprio” you would freak me out 😄

  17. History WILL ultimately repeat itself……. GRIZZLY MAN. Don't shoot the messenger, just saying. I can't possibly be the ONLY one thinking this. 😐

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