{"id":839506,"date":"2026-08-01T02:57:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T02:57:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/839506\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T02:57:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T02:57:19","slug":"grouse-mountains-iconic-bear-grinder-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/839506\/","title":{"rendered":"Grouse Mountain\u2019s iconic bear Grinder dies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Grinder, a massive grizzly bear shown in this undated handout photo, who fascinated locals and tourists alike on North Vancouver’s Grouse Mountain, has died.Devin Manky\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Grinder, a massive grizzly bear who fascinated locals and tourists alike on Grouse Mountain, has died. <\/p>\n

He was adopted as a cub after being orphaned and became a long-time companion for Coola, another orphan who arrived around the same time in 2001.<\/p>\n

The bears have lived in an enclosure at the ski resort in North Vancouver, B.C., since then, hibernating in the winter together and emerging in the spring.<\/p>\n

Veterinarian Ken Macquisten, director of the Grouse Mountain Wildlife Refuge, said Friday that it was heartbreaking to say goodbye to Grinder, who had always been a \u201cgoofball\u201d and the leader of the two bears. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got a sense of humour. He\u2019s a bit quirky. He always was the first bear to emerge from hibernation. You could bet on it, and I think he got a kick out of the people who came to visit him as much as the people that visited him did with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Macquisten said it had been a privilege for his team to take care of Grinder for the past 25 years and they would miss the bear deeply.<\/p>\n

A statement from Grouse Mountain Resort said Grinder had experienced a rapid decline in mobility, with a veterinary examination revealing a spinal condition that paralyzed his hind legs, leaving no realistic path to recovery or quality of life.<\/p>\n

Mr. Macquisten said Grinder seemed a bit stiffer than usual and his left hind leg had a limp when he emerged out of his den earlier this year.<\/p>\n

He said the problem worsened and eventually Grinder couldn\u2019t get up or use his hind legs.<\/p>\n

The bear was recently tranquillized to allow for a full veterinary assessment, with the results coming back Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt turned out that he had some spinal cord compression that was numbing out the nerves to his back legs, and there was no hope for recovery,\u201d Mr. Macquisten said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made the difficult decision to say goodbye to him, and we did that this morning,\u201d he said in an interview on Friday.<\/p>\n

A statement from the resort said the decision was made to provide a humane passing for Grinder, who reached an age beyond the average life expectancy of a male grizzly in the wild.<\/p>\n

It said Grinder, along with Coola, had served as an \u201cextraordinary ambassador for wildlife conservation\u201d for the resort\u2019s guests over the years.<\/p>\n

The bear provided the closest glimpse many would see of the size of a male grizzly. Grinder\u2019s \u201csummer weight\u201d was about 326 kilograms, but he gained more than 100 kilograms before going into hibernation for the winter, Mr. Macquisten said.<\/p>\n

The veterinarian described Grinder and Coola as \u201cbest friends,\u201d sharing an unusual bond as they spent 25 years eating, hibernating and spending time together.<\/p>\n

He said Coola said goodbye to Grinder and spent some time alone with his companion after Grinder\u2019s death, then departed to rest on a nearby hillside.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe he\u2019s thinking about Grinder right now, but maybe he\u2019s thinking about when\u2019s lunch,\u201d Mr. Macquisten said.<\/p>\n

The Grizzly Bear Foundation said Grinder inspired generations to see the bears with greater curiosity, compassion and respect, fostering a lasting commitment to conservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, Grinder. Your legacy will live on,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Grinder, a massive grizzly bear shown in this undated handout photo, who fascinated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":839507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,66,865,61,900,892,886,323,883,913],"class_list":["post-839506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-science","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-wildlife","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=839506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/839506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/839507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=839506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=839506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=839506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}