First, he ransacks a garbage can in an urban neighborhood, spilling trash all over the street.
Then he wanders into someone's yard and raids the bird feeders, greasy grills and dog food.
And, worse for Monte, all three of his illicit escapades are caught on TV.
Maybe you've seen them.
Monte is the star of three public service television ads that have aired on western Montana stations recently.
The 30- and 60-second TV ads were produced by a group called the Western Montana Living With Wildlife Working Group, representing state and federal natural resource management agencies, conservation organizations, and BFI, the company that owns Missoula's landfill and garbage collection operation.
The group was formed, said Sterling Miller, a Missoula biologist for the National Wildlife Federation, to find ways to reduce the incidence of conflicts between people and bears.
"The best way to do that," he said, "is to educate people about how to avoid problems with bears. If you can educate people, the bears will educate themselves. It's a chronic problem, because bears - particularly in years when the berry crop is short - move out of their natural habitat and into urban areas."
Each of the three ads addresses a different component of bear awareness, said Miller, who designed the TV spots, along with Bill Thomas, information officer for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Missoula.
One ad is aimed at home garbage management. Monte is shown easily opening the lid of a garbage container and diving in head first. The message is to secure household garbage, either inside until collection or in bear-proof trash bins, to avoid attracting bears.
Chad Bauer, operations manager of BFI, appears in the film as a garbage collector.
"Chad Bauer has been strongly supportive of ways to sanitize garbage and avoid attracting bears," Miller said. And, he added, BFI has been instrumental in providing bear-proof Dumpsters in many urban areas around Missoula.
Another ad zeroes in on household bear attractants, such as bird feeders, greasy barbecue grills, fruit and pet food, and how to make them less available to bruins.
The third ad, which has yet to be aired, concentrates on backcountry bear problems, and how to avoid them, especially by keeping a clean camp. With hunting season opening Sunday, Miller said he hopes TV stations will begin to air that ad. The ad is about hunters, he says, but applies to all backcountry activities.
The desired result of the ads, Miller says, "means a lot fewer dead bears. The best thing you can do to keep bears alive, is to eliminate situations that cause people - including agencies - to have to kill them."
The mischievous Monte in the ads is played by Barry Anderson, who retired from his mascot duties last year after three years wearing the bear suit. He earned mascot of the year honors in a national contest in 2002.
"He contributed a great deal" to the production of the ads, Miller says. "He made comments, and was full of ideas, most of which we adopted. He was great."
The ads were filmed in sweltering heat last July, Miller says.
"Poor Monte," he says. "That suit was just roasting. It was near 100 degrees."
UM has shown one of the ads on the scoreboard at Grizzly football games this year, according to Miller, who says the ads have been distributed to all television stations in western Montana.
Because of a particularly poor berry crop this year, bear problems have been especially frequent in urban areas of western Montana, according to Miller.
The ads were "written so they're not specific to one year," he says. "But we hope TV stations continue to run them."
Reporter Daryl Gadbow can be reached at 523-5264 or at dgadbow@missoulian.com.
|
 |
 |
Add your comment now! Write your comment in the form below.
(Email address is for verification only. If you'd like to email a story, look for the link above)