My name is Yona which means bear in the Cherokee language. On July 17th I arrived at my permanent home here at Tigers for Tomorrow at Untamed Mountain. I am 40 pounds and a very happy little grizzly, soon to be a happy big grizzly up to 800 pounds.

Since the bear habitat is being constructed, Sue and Wilbur were able to say yes to an adoption request from North Carolina. I had been useful while I was little guy for promotions, but became too big and needed a place to call home.

The under-construction bear habitats are part of the West Side Preserve second phase, anticipated to open in late summer. This will be home to black bears Cody and Ranger, and me, Yona.

We do need to raise additional funds to complete this 7-acre project and have fundraisers planned, starting July 24th 6-8pm at the Huntsville Botanical Garden, a wine tasting (over 20 wines). Call 256-881-4496 or email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it for reservations or more info on this event.

You can also come visit me now at Untamed Mountain, Thursday – Sunday 9am-4pm. I am in a temporary habitat for public viewing and I do enjoy seeing people.

GRIZZLY BEAR: There were around 50,000 grizzly bears in North America. Today, there are 1,000 - 1,200 grizzly bears remaining in five separate populations in the lower 48 states. In 1975, The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the grizzly bear as a threatened species in the Lower 48 states, under the Endangered Species Act. In Alaska, where there are estimated to be over 30,000 grizzly bears, they are classified as a game animal with regionally established regulations. The Yellowstone population of grizzly bears was declared recovered and removed from the 'Threatened' species list in April of 2007.