His "organization" Grizzly People received donations, including some big ones from celebrities (I read somewhere that DiCaprio gave him 25k; good job, DiCaprio, you helped get two people killed) (that's semi-sarcasm btw). And I think I read that he tended bar during the winters, in Malibu.
I don't know if he earned speaking fees or anything for his engagements that weren't for kids (afaik he never charged to speak to kids, which was admittedly really cool of him*), but he did write a book (maybe two?) that got a pretty big publicity push from HarperCollins, so they must have given him a pretty decent advance; that probably lasted a while, too. I think the first book came out in 96/97.
But as far as I'm aware, he refused to sell or share his footage (probably because he didn't want to give anyone else "control" over "his" bears, but that's just speculation/snideness on my part). Some scientists and researchers pretty much begged him to at least show it to them, but he wouldn't.
*He seemed to have a gift for communicating with/teaching children. It's a shame his obsession kept him from turning that into something. He could have produced a few educational DVDs for kids, and they probably would have sold like hotcakes; he could have done short summer educational programs [like at community centers or parks, not Katmai, lol] that parents would have lined up to pay for; or made a deal with Nickelodeon/Disney Channel to do a couple of specials; or any number of similar things. From those he could have created a regular Steve-Irwin-type nature show for kids, even (he obviously had a gift with animals in general). He could then have made a deal with a company like Gund to make special teddy bears of "his" bears that could have come with little educational booklets and stuff--which would have had the added benefit of actually fulfilling his stated goal of educating people, especially children, about bears, rather than just leaving thousands of hours of footage languishing in a storeroom somewhere and a treasure trove of knowledge and stories languishing in a bear's digestive tract.
Of course, doing that would have required he not let the kids see him practically jizzing himself as he ravaged a bear's poo, but he probably could have handled it.
*****
People said love was blind, but what they meant was that love blinded them.
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