When she covers his face with kisses, he doesn’t even flinch.
Despite the fact that she could bite his face.
You see Agee is an adult polar bear. Mark Dumas raised and loved her since she was 8-months-old.
Dumas trains animals for the movie industry.
It was more than two decades ago when he was asked to find a polar bear for a film.
Agee was a cub at a zoo that was being hand-reared by staff because her mother was too old to care for her. Agee was her mom’s 11th cub.
So, Dumas took her in to hand-rearer her and trained her for the film.
“It’s my job and it’s what I had to do and as I’m doing it, I became very attached to her,” Duman told Animal Planet. “It’s just a really special bond. I love her a lot. I can say she loves me. She really is bonded to me.”
Duman’s wife assures him that Agee absolutely loves him.
According to Animal Planet, Mark is the only other person in the world who has this kind of bond with a fully-grown polar bear.
Polar bears are the largest of their species and reach 6 to 8 ft. in length.
They weigh between 800 and 1,300 lbs. each, the World Wildlife Foundation says.
The only humans that Agee tolerates are Dumas and his wife.
She gets “cranky” around others and is a bit possessive of Dumas.
“When someone starts talking to me and takes my attention away from her, she gets upset about it,” Dumas said.
“Dawn can take my attention as much as she wants because Agee doesn’t mind Dawn.”
As soon as Dumas greets Agee, he walks right up to her and nuzzles his face into hers to give her big kisses.
Agee then breaks out into a low rumble almost like she’s purring like she’s a cat.
That’s when she starts laying big wet ones on him. And Agee loves to cuddle her dad.
“That means she’s super content and she’s sucking on her tongue. She’s clearly really close to Mark,” Dumas’ wife said. “Agee sees him as her mother and father together really and companion.”
Agee is always very happy when her dad comes around. Dumas says he has never once felt that he was in danger around her.
This is likely because he raised her from a very young age.
An Animal Planet video about Dumas and Agee’s relationship was viewed more than 12.4 million times on YouTube.
“This is an excellent example of human and animal bonding, and it really is quite amazing. I believe this also is revelatory of this man’s nurturing nature and intuitive handling of larger animals. It’s interesting to note that various animals of the exact same breed, like people, tend to develop their own unique personalities, only it’s not as pronounced as with a homosapien’s idiosyncrasies.
“Though I’m no expert, this has been my fairly extensive experience with many different species—that they are surprisingly responsive to gentle and…well, to love. But I’ve not had the honor of working with any animal as large as a Polar bear. Certainly none as beautiful and regal as Agee,” wrote one commenter.
See their adorable relationship in the video below.
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Source: Animal Planet, World Wildlife Foundation
