Grizzly Heart: Living Without Fear Among the Brown Bears of Kamchatka

In Grizzly Heart, Charlie Russell, one of the world's foremost authorities on wild bears, travels to one of the planet's ursine capitals: Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. There he turns up cause for worry and hope alike--worry that bears may disappear, hope that humans can learn to live with them so that they don't. Kamchatka is the size of California, with a population half the size of Calgary's. Brown bears (or grizzlies) may not outnumber people there, but they are prominent in the ecology of that rich, lonely land. It's a fitting venue, then, for Russell and longtime partner Maureen Enns, who set up a cabin in the shadow of an ancient volcano and set about taking care of a charming trio of orphan cubs while studying the ways of their elders. The authors' message is simple: "Humans and brown bears can interact safely, given observance of certain rules of etiquette by the humans." Russell and Enns's writing and photographs are lovely, their arguments compelling if perhaps arguable--for, given the record, it may be wise for bears to fear humans, and wiser still for humans to leave bears be. Don't try these tricks at home, in other words. But by all means read this book. --Gregory McNamee

Author: Charlie Russell, Maureen Enns

Publisher: Random House Canada

Year: 2002