Bears

The Stars of Bears

Christine "Chris" Day, Wildlife Viewing Guide
Christine "Chris" Day has been living and working in close proximity to the bears of Alaska’s McNeil Brown Bear Sanctuary for more than 13 years. Born and raised in central California, Day earned a bachelor’s degree in animal science from the University of Florida in Gainesville, followed by a graduate degree in the same field from Montana State University. During the mid-80s, Day found the opportunity to manage the Chenik Brown Bear Camp, a small wilderness lodge on the western coast of the Cook Inlet, close to the bear sanctuary. It was there that she met her husband Ken, an experienced pilot who flew guests into the camp. Their combined expertise has allowed them to make a living doing what they love: sharing the bears with others and educating people about the true nature of these majestic animals.

Brown Bear (or Grizzly)
Brown bears inhabit river valleys, mountain forests, meadows and tundra throughout North America and Eurasia. In interior areas of North America, brown bears are often called grizzlies. The distinctive hump over the shoulders results from enlarged muscles used for digging. The primary threat to brown bears is habitat destruction and degradation. In the United States, as few as 1,000 grizzlies survive in the lower 48 states. The National Wildlife Federation is actively supporting efforts to restore grizzly populations to an area where spacious habitat remains but the grizzlies have been exterminated. This region is the 2.4 million acre Selway-Bitterroot wilderness in Montana and Idaho.

American Black Bear
Native only to North America, this highly adaptable bear can be found from the humid bayous of Louisiana, to the rain forests of the Pacific Northwest, to the tundras of Newfoundland. Opportunistic feeders, black bears eat everything from ants and other insects, nuts, berries and roots, to young deer, moose and salmon. Of all bears, this species seems to have the greatest tolerance of humans. But increased human presence in black bear habitat, due to urban sprawl, road building and other develop-ment, has caused human-bear encounters to increase steadily. Unfortunately, these encounters often end in bear mortality, with human fear leading to many need-less shootings.

Polar Bears
The largest of the bear species, polar bears weigh up to 1,700 pounds. Found throughout the coasts and islands of the Arctic, from Norway to Canada to the former Soviet Union, polar bears live in harsh conditions with temperatures well below freezing, and feed almost exclusively on seals and other marine mammals. Due to global climate change, Arctic sea ice is shrinking at an alarming rate, the average thickness dropping nearly 40 percent in the past three decades, contributing to a six percent total loss since 1978. The loss of ice habitat has severe implications for polar bears, which depend on sea ice for survival. Decreasing ice thickness and warmer temperatures cause winter ice shelves to break up earlier than normal, reducing the polar bear's access to hunting and breeding grounds.

A National Wildlife Federation and Science North Presentation of a Primesco Film. Producers: Goulam Amarsy and James Marchbank. Director: David Lickley. Co-distributed by National Wildlife Federation and Primesco Distribution Inc. Distributed in Japan by Cinema Japan Co., Ltd. Co-Executive Producers: Christopher N. Palmer and Ed Capelle. Editor: James Lahti. Writer: Alexander Low. Narrator: Tyrone Benskin Composer: Violane Corradi, with feature song by Lyle Lovett.

BMZ Reviews:

Oh My By Ross Anthony

BMZ Review of BEARS By Herb Lash

Outside Reviews:

"Bears" By Melissa Maerz, City Pages

"Bears, Bears Everywhere " By Laurel Graeber, New York Times

"Bears Review" By Diane Urbani, Deseret News

"'Bears' gets close as you can (without running)" By Arthur Salm, Union-Tribune

"'Bears' keeps focus simple" By Margaret A. McGurk, The Cincinnati Enquirer

Rating: Fair
Posted by: twalker711
pretty boring ... Read More >>