Boo prepares for bed. (Grizzly Bear Refuge)

Sleepy boy Boo preps for bed near Golden

December 6, 2022 // by Jen Zielinski

Share this:

Life at the Grizzly Bear Refuge near Golden, B.C., must be exciting, because Boo the bear has yet to lay his head down for his winter nap.

Caretakers of the refuge, located at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, said while many assume that the bears are all asleep for the winter, that isn’t necessarily true. There’s evidence of bears still out and about. Following a late spring which led to reduced natural food availability, the animals foraged for longer in the fall months to better prepare themselves for hibernation.

Boo, along with his bear companions in the wild, will intensively search for food and store fat by foraging nearby their dens and then sleeping most of the day before settling in for the big sleep.

“They slowly merge into each step of their seasonal phases, with their dormant phase being the final one,” says the team at the Grizzly Bear Refuge.

Boo will rest his weary head when the option of foraging is seemingly no longer worth the search. The drive to rest can be brought on by temperature, snow depth, hours of sunlight and even nearby noise.

As for right now, Boo is still a busy boy, searching for leftover goods, but with temperatures dropping and some snow in the forecast odds are he will be ready for his nap any day now.

“Our job as his caretakers is to always provide Boo with options, ensure that things are quiet, safe, and private, and decrease stimuli as a whole so Boo can move into his final phase for his annual cycle, a nice and deep slumber until spring.”

While it seems like the Boo updates might dwindle over the coming months as he catches some Zs, the refuge promises not to let Boo fans down and will post photos and video using camera data showing a very cosy, snory, even a farty, sleeping bear.

Plan your adventures throughout the West Coast at westcoasttraveller.com and follow us on Facebook and Instagram @thewestcoasttraveller. And for the top West Coast Travel stories of the week delivered right to your inbox, sign up for our weekly Armchair Traveller newsletter!