She's smarter than the average bear, even at only 24 month old. Keesha, weighing in a 80 pounds, is one of the shiniest stars of the Moscow Circus appearing at Baily's Reno through April 1.

Spending of interesting afternoon sightseeing at Lake Tahoe, Keesha, her owner/trainer Anatoly Kolodenko, his wife Luda, and interpreter Yan Narosov entertained crowds wherever they went in South Lake Tahoe.

Dressed formally on her way to a newspaper interview, Keesha entered the Tahoe Daily Tribune walking erect and sporting a pink and lavender ruffled bow around her neck. Standing smaller than might be expected, at under 4 feet, Keesha was friendly, playful and less than suspicios of dozens of Tribune employees getting their first "up close and personal" view of a bear.

Upright with stick-straight posture, Keesha is a silver bear from Georgia republic of the Soviet Union. She gracefully posed at the desk of the Tribune's publisher (Dave Trussel was out of the office for the afternoon), then headed down to the beach where she played with pine cones, climbed trees and drew a crowd to watch. Yes, folks, she also did what bears do in the woods, while the vacationers focused their video and 35mm cameras. What vacation snapshots these travelers will have to show when they return home!

Owning, raising and training a circus bear is not that much different than doing the same for family dogs and cats, exept, she is a bear. With respect to her possibly intimidating nature, Kolodenko said in Russian:"A bear is a bear."

Kolodenko maintains complete control over his charge through the use of a stern, nearly gruff voice. "He speaks to his wife that way, too," joked Yan, the group's translator. Keesha obeys Kolodenko, does what he says, then is rewarded with her favorite treat, an animal cracker. Kolodenko is often rewarded with a kiss from the fuzzy bear.

"She is definetely part of the family", Yan explained. "She stays in the motel with dad, mom, brother and sister. The Kolodenkos consider her their 'youngest daughter.'"

Travelling with her family in a large van, Keesha arrived at Lake Tahoe amidst a conflict of admiration and criticism. Animal right advocates have complained that the circus animals are mistreated.

"Quite the contrary", explained Yan. "Everything about these animals is kept natural. They are very well taken care of. Their claws are not clipped. They're kept completely natural." Actually, Keesha appeared more like a big dog, playing with her owner on the beach.

But the controversy follows the circus animals wherever they go. For instance, while a small entourage followed Keesha as she romped at El Dorado, two women at a picnic table complained about what they thought was the abuse of a wild animal. Our of scores of people admiring Keesha, two women were not among the majority.

"We try to educate them," said Yan, with a sharp edge of frustration at the majority.

"The Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals came to Baily's to inspect the animals," Yan said. "Their conclusion was that they wished the Russians would treat their people as well as well they treat these animals."

If people are still concerned about the animals, "we invite them backtage and in Keesha's case, we invite them up to her hotel room.

"We spent 40 minutes on a Reno radio station yesterday doing a live show and answering phone calls from listeners," said Yan. "One man, who happened to have a pet dog, thought it was wrong for the Kolodenkos to have a pet bear that performs her large repertoire of tricks around the world," he added. He wondered why it is OK for people to have a dog which does tricks but not a bear.

"It's better for animals to live in captivity than in a zoo, because they are treated better in captivity, and it's better for them to live in a zoo than the wild, because they live longer and lead better lives," he insisted

Seeing Keesha on an afternoon ramp rather than just performing in the circus, proved her to be playful, friendly and a real ham when it came to entertaining. She clapped her massive paws together for the crawd on the beach, raced her trainer across the sand, and stoped to give him a kiss. An animal cracker was also part of the bargain on occasion.

"There's a real bond between them," said Yan of his juvenile bear and her owner. "They're family."

Keesha was an orphan cub found in Georgia wilderness when she was about 1 month old. "She was in the backyard of the Kolodenkos'home when she discovered a clothesline," he said.

"One day she started walking on the clothesline. So she was as much a surprise to them as anyone else," he explained.

While in public, Keesha wears a leather muzzle, which has been the target of some criticism. But the reason for the muzzle is not because the bear is aggresive, but because people can be stupid, he said. "Her muzzle is for public protection. People are told not to stick their fingers in the bear's face, but they dont listen and as soon as the opportunity arises, people will shove their hands in the bear's face."

While Keesha is the family pet, Kolodenko and his family keep their "baby's" animal kingdom status in perspective. "A bear is still a bear," said Kolodenko, even as kissed her.

The cub's life expectancy would be about 30 years in the wild. As a member of Kolodenko family, she'll live to 50 or more, they said. By the same token, they added, dogs and cats live longer as pets than they would in the wild.

Onlookers are not allowed to touch or pet the bear because her owner's scent is what she used to, and she would become confused if she smelled other humans' scents on her, said Yan. "Bears also use taste to identify things and people. Since their skin and fur is so thick, they lick everything to identify what or who it is."

"She is not your average bear." Keesha's owners repeat with pride. "Most bears can be trained to do two or three tricks. Keesha knows more than 25 and she's a very quick learner."

"In Las Vegas, it took her about two minutes to figure out how to pull a slot machine handle. She's very, very talented."

"And she skateboards," he added proudly of this family's resident ham.