Great Bear Adventure closes its doors

Great Bear Adventure has closed its doors. Owner Russ Kilpatrick said age was a major factor in closing the drive-through bear park in Coram.

“The bears were getting old, and so am I,” Kilpatrick said last week.

Last year, the bear park featured two black bears. Both were 27 years old and have been euthanized, Kilpatrick said. One suffered badly from arthritis and other ailments.

Kilpatrick built the roadside attraction on U.S. 2 in 1989 and opened for business in 1991. “You’re car is your cage” was the slogan. The bear park at one point advertised its two grizzly bears — Syrian brown bears that Kilpatrick raised from cubs.

The bear park had its fair share of controversy over the years — legal battles with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the case of a worker who was bitten by one of the brown bears — not once, but twice.

The second biting incident resulted in a workers’ compensation claim against Kilpatrick that went to the Montana Supreme Court. The court ruled against Kilpatrick, and the two brown bears were euthanized after the incidents. A mount made from one of the bears was offered for sale at a local bank for a few months.

Kilpatrick said the poor economy in recent years didn’t help business either — visitation was down about 60 percent.

He said he’s sold his house and is hoping to go to Canada to teach classes on bears and bear behavior around humans.

Mike Lee, a commercial program manager for FWP, said Kilpatrick told the agency last year he wouldn’t seek renewal of his permit to operate the facility.

Animal parks in general have declined in popularity in recent years.

Wild Eyes, a wildlife studio north of Columbia Falls, went out of business about a decade ago. Outside of zoos, there are only two left in the state, Lee noted.

A private game facility exists in Kalispell, Lee noted, where people pay to photograph animals.