Grizzly Seasons

Book excerpt: A spectacular journey into the heart of bear country, with more than 175 full-colour photographs, from the authors of Grizzly Heart. The moments of unexpected communion they’ve captured on film will change the way you think about bears forever. What if the thought of encountering a grizzly bear filled you with anticipation and wonder? What if you knew a bear her whole life, and the bear treated you as a welcome friend whenever you visited? What if bears themselves could be free to live as they were meant to, enjoying nature’s splendour and not fearful of gun-bearing humans? Not everyone can live the dream, but at least two people (and many more bears) have. For seven years, renowned naturalist Charlie Russell and his partner, artist Maureen Enns, have spent summers in the remote wilderness of Kamchatka, Russia. Home to the densest population of brown bears in the world, the region is also home to Russell and Enns’s unprecedented first-hand study of the kinds of relationships that can exist between bears and humans. The authors’ first book together, Grizzly Heart, told the unforgettable story of their work with Kamchatka’s brown bears. Now comes Grizzly Seasons, a stunning array of photographs of these captivating and elusive creatures. Central to their project are three bear cubs -- rescued by Russell and Enns from a squalid Russian zoo -- who are reintroduced to the wild and allowed to grow into the wild animals they were meant to be. We also meet other bears face-to-face, who over the years have come to accept, and at times even embrace, the couple’s presence.