LOS ANGELES  Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has reintroduced the grizzly bear to California.

On a recent business and skiing trip to Aspen, Colo., the governor popped into an art gallery and became transfixed by a large-scale bronze sculpture of a grizzly bear.

“Suddenly this picture started running in my mind of this being in front of my office in the Capitol,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “I thought of kids sitting on it, and wouldn’t that be cool?”

So he reached into his personal bank account and ponied up for the bear  as well as the shipping costs to Sacramento last month  and there it now sits, outside Mr. Schwarzenegger’s office, as he dreamed.

Image The grizzly bear outside Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneggers office. Credit... Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press

“Everyone is loving it now,” he said. “We have so many kids hanging around, it has become a great attraction.”