At six weeks old, black bear cub Jack’s 3.5 pound frame does not hold him back from making a big impact on people of all ages.

Thursday marked his first journey into Decatur County, where he will be living out his life, potentially 30-years long. He is currently in the care of Jeff Watson, a bear handler with 20 years of experience. Jack was born in captivity and taken from his mother’s care to be bottle raised and acclimated to a life with humans. As of Thursday, Watson had only been caring for the tiny bear for two days.

The young bear’s eyes have begun to open but his ears remain closed. He is not yet old enough to walk and depends on Watson for everything.

“In two weeks, I’ll be feeding him while he climbs my legs,” Watson noted with a smile.

A bear cub is a large responsibility, Watson said. Cubs are demanding and grow rapidly. It is important for them to be taught the proper manners of how to interact with their handlers from the beginning. With an adult size approaching 400 pounds, they can become a force to be reckoned with. Unlike Watson’s grizzly bear, Brody, who visited the area last week, Jack will not likely be trained for films and impressive displays. Regardless of future plans, for now, Watson will serve as a mother bear, feeding and caring for Jack 24 hours a day.

While he is very young, he will be fed lamb formula from a bottle because its fat content is higher than that of cow’s milk or other formulas. As he grows older, this will be switched to pureed dog food, also fed from a bottle. Mother bears in the wild, Watson explained, will supplement the nutrition of their cubs by nursing for up to five years. Watson bottle-fed Brody for three years, but each bear, and its relationship to the handler, is different.

After a visit to Batesville Elementary School, Watson carried Jack to visit pre-school classes and an after-school program at the Greensburg YMCA. The children were very excited to meet a bear, regardless how small he may be right now. For them, it was a challenge not to reach out and touch him, but Watson kept Jack out of reach to ensure he would not pick up germs and become ill.

“They are pretty durable animals,” he explained to the kids. “I’m just being careful for the next week or so.”

When the youngsters asked if bears are dangerous, Watson compared the safety factors of a bear to those of a car. He explained that creating a routine and being careful are important factors for being safe with bears in the same way that paying attention and knowing the rules of the road help keep people safe.

This introduction to Greensburg’s youth is not to be the end of Jack’s association with the area. Visitors to Stapp’s Circle S Ranch’s soon-to-be-built Greensburg Grizzly Adventure will be able to watch the young bear grow up. Not only that, four grizzly bears will also call the area east of town their home. Jim Stapp, Circle S owner, hopes construction can begin in order to open the new habitat for Memorial Day. He was on hand throughout Watson’s presentations to show images of Brody and discuss the many places the youngsters may have seen bears in the past. Stapp and Watson are working together to meet all regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture to ensure the health and safety of all five bears and the well-being of their human neighbors.