Grinder and Coola Emerge from Hibernation
Posted by Devin Manky April 27, 2012
Today marked the end to the 2011/2012 hibernation season for Grinder and Coola, our two resident Grizzly Bears at the Grouse Mountain Refuge for Endangered Wildlife. Grinder and Coola emerged shortly after 11am by digging their way out of their bear den through a large mound of snow. Once out, they proceeded to have a great romp around their hibernation habitat - rolling in the snow to clean their coats, running to stretch their legs and spending hours wrestling with each other playfully. Of course after all of that playing they crashed hard and had some long afternoon naps.
This season Grinder and Coola went into hibernation on November 21, 2011 making it 158 days that they spent inside their hotel during this hibernation session. This is on average with the last few years (2008/2009 - 150 days, 2009/2010 - 145 days and 2010/2011 - 161 days). This is the second longest hibernation period to date. A big thanks to our snow-making (or snow-removal in this case!) team who spent the last two weeks digging out and preparing the grizzly bear’s hibernation habitat.
Work continues on their 5 acre summer habitat and we hope to have it ready by summer opening weekend.
Grinder and Coola can now be visited by guests at the mountain. Those of you wishing to view the bears should follow the signs located outside the chalet for the current path to the hibernation habitat.
More bear updates to follow!
