‘Jungle Jack’ at Home in the Flathead, Helping an Iconic Species

BIGFORK –  He arrives like a lion and looks fresh off a safari. He very well could be. Skin as tan as his khaki attire and a tattered leather hat that resembles a fedora, he seems like a real-life Indiana Jones.

“Indy” was terrified of snakes, though. Not “Jungle Jack.”

Over the last five decades, Jack Hanna has become a global icon of adventure. He’s led one of the world’s most prominent zoos and used his celebrity stature to spread education and awareness about exotic and endangered species, frequently appearing on national television programs like Late Night with David Letterman and Good Morning America. He’s traveled the world 10 times over, filming his own Emmy-award winning programs, and is considered a go-to expert when it comes to wildlife.

At 67, Hanna isn’t slowing down. Not by a long shot. When your day-to-day encounters have included being charged by a grizzly or having a rhino spear your Jeep, you don’t just turn off that energetic moxie.

In recent years, the peripatetic adventurer has increasingly turned his attention to the Flathead Valley — a place he cherishes like home — and to helping the State of Montana manage one of the nation’s “icon species,” the grizzly bear.

Jack and his wife, Suzi, who fell in love with the Flathead’s scenic surroundings nearly 20 years ago, have hosted the “Grizzly Bear Rendezvous” at their property off the eastern shores of Flathead Lake for the past six summers. The fundraiser supports Montana’s Outdoor Legacy Foundation and raises money for state biologists monitoring and managing the grizzly population.

“He’s been very supportive over the years and very gracious,” said Tim Manley, a renowned bear specialist with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The Hannas have raised nearly $400,000 at the annual get-together near Bigfork, and Jack hopes to keep building on that support with the latest installment on July 11.

Jack, with his off-the-cuff, lively storytelling, will be the charismatic master of ceremonies at the Rendezvous, and this year’s event will also include a small art auction featuring original works donated by several regional artists. The auction will feature, among other items, an original grizzly bear oil painting by Kalispell’s Tom Saubert, titled “Monarchs and Painted Ladies,” and a brown-bear skull elaborately decorated by Jana Waller. Shane Clouse and his band, Stomping Ground, will perform and Chris Ricciardi will provide catering.

Over 250 people attended last year and space is limited once again. Tickets are $100 and available at https://www.mtoutdoorlegacy.org or by calling (406) 444-6759.

Hanna witnessed his first bear — a black bear — while growing up in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. He developed a passion for animals at a young age and when he was 11 he volunteered his spare time to work with a local veterinarian.

“I’ve always been fascinated by bears,” he said recently at his property, where preparations were already being made for the upcoming event. “They’re a magnificent animal.”

For 15 years, from 1978 to 1993, he served as director of the famed Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, a nonprofit refuge in Ohio that’s home to more than 9,000 animals from around the globe and contributes millions of dollars each year to conservation efforts.

“Maybe you could compare him to what Disney or Mickey Mouse are to Orlando,” Brian Ross, the president and chief operating officer of the tourism and convention bureau in Columbus, told a reporter with The Columbus Dispatch last year.

“He’s that big.”

Hanna, now the director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo, has filmed several wildlife series, including Jack Hanna Into the Wild, which featured an episode about capturing and relocating grizzlies on the outskirts of Glacier National Park.

“It’s about educating people,” he says of his work as a zookeeper and television show host.

That also means advocating for proper management of species, which Hanna strongly supports. He said he’s in favor of delisting the grizzlies in the areas with robust populations, like the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem.

“To take an animal off (the Endangered Species List) is the greatest thing in the world,” he said, citing that as the result of a population successfully rebounding and growing healthy.

“Now the bear can be controlled.”

Hanna said it’s critical to the grizzly that skilled specialists like Manley can do their job.

“That’s why I’m here, this man here,” he said, pointing at Manley.

Hanna’s Rendezvous helps give state biologists the tools and personnel they need to, among other things, manage grizzly populations in areas where populations are strong and to relocate a few grizzlies from around Kalispell to the Cabinet Mountains where numbers are low. Just recently Manley and other wildlife officials relocated a pair of female grizzlies from the North Fork to the Cabinets.

The money from the fundraiser is also used to help protect bears and people’s property, given the inevitable situations that arise as grizzly bear numbers increase in populated areas.

Most of the programs so far have centered on Northwest Montana’s region, but the Outdoor Legacy Foundation is trying to raise enough funds this year to provide bear management technicians to help in regions in southwestern Montana and the Rocky Mountain Front.

The foundation has funded paid summer internships for University of Montana wildlife students and the Legacy Foundation is planning to foster a similar relationship with Montana State University as well.

“As our grizzly bear numbers are increasing, the need for the bear biologists to respond to calls from the public is increasing, too,” George Bettas, the foundation’s director, said.

For Hanna, it’s easy to get behind the foundation and its efforts. After all, this is home, he said.

“I’ve seen the world, and there’s nothing like this,” he said. “I still consider Glacier National Park one of the wonders of the world.”

He added, “To me it’s not just home, it’s paradise. I’m just very blessed to live in Montana.”