A brown bear, likely an adult, near a body of water with vegetation in daylight. 4:26
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Stick beats toys for a 900-pound brown bear

For a 900-pound Syrian brown bear named Leo, the best toy in the pond is a stick. more

Leo lives at the Orphaned Wildlife Center in Otisville, New York. It is home to 11 Kodiak and Syrian bears, each with a name and a personality of its own. Three people look after them all: Jim, Susan and Kerry Klair.

He wades into the pond for a swim. He's huge, yet he splashes around as playfully as a cub.

Then he finds the stick floating in the water. He tosses it around, reaches out for it with his big paws, and grabs it in his mouth. It looks a lot like fetch, with Leo as both the thrower and the dog.

A brown bear, likely an adult, near a body of water with vegetation in daylight. The headline runs in white letters across the lower third.Save
For a 900-pound Syrian brown bear named Leo, the best toy in the pond is a stick.

Sticks are nothing new for him. His caretakers have tried lots of toys, but Leo keeps coming back to sticks, rocks and boxes. Anyone who has bought a child a present knows how that goes. The box wins.

At times he sinks so low in the murky pond that only part of him shows. He never seems to be in a hurry. He has nowhere to be, and a stick is plenty.