August 29, 1998 Missoulian: Associated Press article about Mismatched friends Hard-luck grizzly succumbs after longtime cat companion vanishes 'We found Gnz curled up asleep -dead. We don't know what he died of. But some of the volunteers here say it was of a broken heart.' by Barbara Rossman, Wildlife Images. 0
A stray tabby cat adopted long ago by the 700-pound Montana grizzly bear - the unusual pair slept together - disappeared a couple of months ago.
And on Aug. 9, workers at the Wildlife Images Rehabilitation & Education Center found the bereaved bear had died in his sleep.
"We found Griz curled up asleep - dead," said staff member Barbara Rossman. "We don't know what he died of. But some of the volunteers here say it was of a broken heart." The rehabilitation center didn't release the news until this week.
"Everyone was a basket case around here for a few weeks afterwards," said Dave Siddon, director of the center. "Everyone was so in love with that bear. We wanted to kind of absorb it."
Bears in captivity often live into their 20s, he said.
Griz arrived in the Center as an orphaned cub in 1990, when Siddon's father, the late J. David Siddon, was the director.
Griz and his mother had been struck by a train on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. The orphaned Griz immediately became a favorite at Wildlife Images.
The bear's injuries, including limited vision in one eye, meant he could never be released. As he grew, he struck up a friendship with the stray kitten. The pair was featured in national magazines and on television.
Ken Goddard, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Forensics Laboratory in Ashland, said he will never forget Griz.
"It's sad - Griz was my good buddy," Goddard said. "I would rub and scratch him, and his good eye would roll back and he would lick me." He was quick to add that he doesn't recommend getting friendly with a grizzly bear.
"Griz could have killed me any time he chose to, but the worst he ever did was pinch me," Goddard said. "It was a nice relationship."