"The American Black Bear." "The bear that attacks more people... than any other." "To some, they're unpredictable and dangerous." "When I turned, the bear's head was right there." "What, in the water?" "In the water, then it grabbed me by the back of the neck." "Other people think we've got them completely wrong." "I'm Gordon Buchanan and I'm a wildlife cameraman." "I want to find out the truth about black bears." "In this series, I'm going to try and film a bear family over three seasons." "From the moment they wake up in the spring... ..to the time they hibernate in autumn." "This is the only place in the world I can do it." "But to tell you the truth..." "Oh, aye, aye, OK." "I'm a little bit scared." "I've just been bitten for the first time by a bear." "Whoa!" "Northern Minnesota is just west of the Great Lakes, near the border with Canada." "It's one of the last great wilderness areas in the US." "This is bear country." "The little town of Ely lies at its heart." "Thousands of people begin trips into the backwoods from here." "Bears are the one animal people do not want to meet in the forest." "I'm going to try and shoot them with a camera, not with a gun." "Bears have a big reputation... ..and they've become monsters in our imagination." "Until the moment I see one in the wild," "I'll know how I truly feel about it, but it is an animal that I have a, a healthy respect for and, and a fear of." "When you look into a bear's eyes, I think they've got a, they've, they've got a mad look about them, I think." "My biggest problem will be just seeing one." "Black bears live in thick forest and are almost impossible to find." "However, in the woods just outside Ely, I have a unique opportunity to get close to them." "That's because of one remarkable man." "He could help us reveal a side of bears that no-one has seen before." "Hello." "Are you Gordon?" "Hey, you've got your luggage right with ya." "How're you doing?" "Good, I'm good." "Come on." "Glad to be here." "Yeah, come on here." "I mean, I probably know more about you than you know about me." "Dr Lynn Rogers has been a bear biologist for 44 years." "Here, get in that side." "Oh, ha-ha!" "I was forgetting what country I was in." "Yeah." "Yeah, you're in America now." "If anyone can get me close to bears, it's Lynn." "So in a normal year they'd all still be in hibernation?" "Yeah, right, yeah." "About now, the earliest ones would be coming out." "15 miles out of town is the cabin where I'll be staying." "Lynn wants to show me that there are bears living right on my doorstep." "In your professional opinion, where's the closest bear to us right now?" "There's probably one bear per each one and a half square miles." "So, I dunno, could be anywhere." "Oh, oh, wow." "Whoa, ho, ho, ho..." "That is definitely bear hair." "Yeah." "So he's wandered up here and just scratched his back on this rough bark?" "Yeah, but it's not for comfort, it's to communicate." "Every bear that comes by will smell the bear on here and stop and sniff it." "It's actually quite soft." "Yeah, it's actually really pleasant to pet a bear." "I'll take your word for it." "Is that bear?" "Oh, there you go, way to go." "Those are teeth marks." "Probably a male bear." "So when the male bear stands up, he's taller than you?" "Yes, right." "Yeah." "OK, here's one where, probably a bear..." "I just didn't realise that they were that big." "When I think of a grizzly bear, I know that they are enormous and I know that polar bears are enormous, black bears I always think of, of being little bears and these marks aren't left by a little bear." "You're talking something significantly taller than me." "No matter how big our brains are, when you're out here in the forest, it's how big your teeth are, how strong you are and compared to a black bear, we are nothing." "The next day I feel jet-lagged, but wake up to a magical April morning." "North of the cabin, there's pretty much nothing but wilderness all the way to the Arctic." "It's amazing to think in North America you've got somewhere like this." "On the other side of this lake, it is truly wild and that's why you've got moose and wolves, bears wandering about this forest." "It's pretty much untouched and that's what makes it so special." "This vast patchwork of lakes and forest is found nowhere else in America." "There are plenty of bears here, but they're hidden in the trees." "Fortunately, Lynn's managed to put radio collars on ten wild bears, which will help with the search." "Before I begin filming, there are a few basic steps I need to take." "I want to get a feel for the lie of the land and how difficult it's going to be to track them." "All right, guys." "Take care out there." "I'm here with the rest of the crew." "OK, see you later." "But for this first attempt to find a bear, it's important I go alone." "That way, I don't make any noise." "I've radio-tracked animals before." "What I don't know is what a bear will do when it sees me." "I'm gonna go this way." "Oh, gosh." "I'm travelling light, just in case I have to leg it." "Phew." "OK, I'm getting a really strong signal from right over there." "Very strong." "I've filmed large predators all over the world, from tigers in the Himalayas to lions in Africa." "But bears are completely new to me." "The only way to film one will be to get as close as I dare." "It kinda feels like a bad idea doing this." "You're walking towards an animal that is infinitely stronger than I am, that's bigger than I am." "Um..." "I can't imagine it's more scared than I am." "OK, keep walking, keep walking, keep walking, keep walking, keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going." "The signal gets louder as I get closer." "Ohh." "Oh..." "Just there." "I can see it, it's about... maybe 20 metres away." "OK, it's just standing up." "Come on, camera!" "There it is." "Focus, focus." "Blinking camera!" "There it is." "One thing that Lynn had told me was to just announce my presence by speaking to the bear." "Hey, bear." "Hey, bear." "Hey, bear!" "Oh, it's got a cub!" "It's got a cub with it!" "Hey, bear." "I'll keep 20 metres between us because the one thing I know about bears is that they're fast sprinters." "Hey, bear." "Oh, man." "OK, it's coming towards me." "OK, it's coming towards me." "Bloody thing's walking towards me." "It's just coming up." "I'm going to back off a bit." "Phew!" "OK." "Just keep your distance, and I'll keep mine." "No, no, no, no." "No, thank you." "No, thank you." "Not this close, thank you." "No." "No, no, no, no, no." "She's coming up." "Man, she's a big bear!" "No, no, no." "No, no, no." "No, no, no." "No, no, no, no." "No, no, no." "Oh, man!" "It's like..." "can you see her?" "Phew!" "Ooh!" "It's amazing." "That is really quite something else." "I'm surprised by how scared I was." "It really is beyond me, I don't know why anyone would want to do that." "It's just insane." "I think I'd be a fool if I lost the fear of these bears." "They're wild animals and you have to remind yourself of that." "To record their lives in any detail, I'm going have to get much closer than that, and stay with them for hours." "Right now, that feels impossible." "I know I'm not alone, most people are frightened of bears." "Even bear biologists are scared of them." "Most believe bears can only be followed from a distance." "They rely on remote tracking devices which can only be put on by first trapping..." "..and then tranquillizing the bear." "This is highly stressful for the animal, and it seems to reinforce fear on both sides." "It's why most biologists have rarely seen black bears behaving normally." "Lynn's decided to do things differently." "Long ago, I realised how little you can learn from measuring a tranquillized bear and flying over a radio-collared bear and putting some dots on a map." "If you can't see the animal you're studying, there's very little you can learn." "Lynn's methods are unconventional." "But he gets closer to wild bears than any other researcher." "He's my passport to filming them, so I'll have to learn how he does it." "This morning, Lynn's giving me a crash course on how to get so close to bears you could touch them." "Lynn has devoted the last 40 years of his life to studying these bears." "I don't think there's anyone else on the planet that knows as much or has spent as long with black bears." "He's the best mentor I could ever have." "But then, you know, who's to say that he's not just a complete crackpot, and he's just been lucky for 40 years?" "It's me, bear." "We're homing in on the mother and cub I met earlier." "It's me." "She's a first-time mother and Lynn thinks she would make a great subject to film." "It's me, bear." "He's decided to try and upgrade her radio collar to make finding her a little easier." "What he does next blows me away." "Something no other bear expert would attempt." "It's me, bear." "Lynn's going to try and change the collar..." "It's me, bear." "..without tranquillizing her first." "It's me, Lily." "Don't worry." "Well, let's go closer." "Did you say "Lily"?" "Yes." "Is that her name?" "Yep, this is Lily." "There she is." "Is she there?" "OK, here she comes." "Hey, look at that big bear coming." "Is she going to approach us?" "I hope so, yeah." "OK, I'll tell you what, I'm going to back off, Lynn, and just let you do your thing." "Because it's something I'd like to just observe." "Hi, bear." "It's me, bear." "I'm not getting too close to the massive black bear." "Incredible." "Hi." "Do you remember me?" "You do, don't you?" "You do, don't you?" "OK, you remember that?" "I'm the grape man." "I have never seen anyone get this close to a large, wild carnivore." "Just a second." "Um-hum." "It's me, it's me, all right." "This is the closest I've ever been to the cub." "Really?" "Oh, wow, she is cute." "And have you given this one a name yet?" "Oh, the cub's name is Hope." "Lily's Hope." "You and I will go up to the bear and you will offer her food so she knows you're the one." "Giving her some food?" "Yep." "Yeah, yeah." "And you will continue to offer her food to distract her, while I put this on." "I hadn't realised Lynn was going to rope me in on this." "What's going to be interesting, this is a bigger collar, a heavier collar than she's used to." "Because she's just got a little collar on now." "This is bigger, this is new." "We'll see how she reacts." "It's me, bear." "Hello, Lily." "It's all right, girl." "It's all right, girl." "Hello, girl." "Don't worry, I'll give you something." "I'll give you something." "Don't be scared, Lily." "Is she going to be OK if I come down onto her level, or is that not a good thing to do?" "Yeah." "Hello, girl." "You're doing good." "Hi, girl." "Oh, wow!" "No, don't be greedy." "Oh, gosh, oh, gosh." "There you go." "OK, bear." "Hey, hey, hey, hey." "OK, my heart's going a little bit faster than it was two minutes ago." "I'm just imagining it's a pony, not a bear." "Try to get these to fit through the holes." "Halfway through the grapes, Lynn, just to let you know!" "Uh-oh." "All right, OK, you take these." "I keep on thinking she's going to nip me." "Now, is that tight enough?" "I think it is." "Now I'm going to take her heart rate." "It's a lot easier with a stethoscope." "This is surreal." "It's weird, it's just strange." "It's a very odd situation, because I've seen animals being radio-collared before and that's normally quite a traumatic experience for the animal, because you've got to dart them." "What is 37 times 2?" "74." "That's what I thought!" "Probably best not, not the time to, to be asking me mathematical problems." "She's lovely." "Yeah, 74 is a nice, slow, calm heart rate." "Yeah, so she's nice and relaxed?" "Yeah." "That's your old radio collar." "Lynn, I'd like you to take my heart rate at the moment." "Doing this it suddenly makes sense, you know, why Lynn builds such a close relationship with these animals." "It enables him to do something like this that causes much less stress to the animal, and not only the issue of collaring them, but once you've got this level of trust with an animal, you can follow it, you can watch it" "and it will eventually ignore you." "As a cameraman, this is a perfect situation." "You've got a wild animal acting in a natural way that you're able to follow and sit this close to, so it, for me, it is a real unique opportunity." "Even Lynn doesn't know how mothers like Lily learn how to raise their first baby." "If I can get Lily to accept me, I'll have an amazing chance to document what happens." "I think the next step is learning to control my fear." "But that's easier said than done." "Many of Lynn's field assistants have bottled out in the past." "I've had a number of people quit, actually, because they see things they didn't understand and then they..." "They come in and tell me I don't wanna get killed." "One guy, he got a little ways into the woods, he got so scared he starting throwing up, and a week later he was gone." "I didn't fire him, he just quit." "Lynn's researcher Sue Mansfield is the only assistant to have stayed the course." "Sue is going to help the crew keep the cameras rolling as much as we can for the next six months, even when I'm not here." "We're hoping we'll reveal more about bears than ever before." "It's interesting how she's paralleling the road, but not travelling on the road." "Lily's brand-new GPS collar is a huge bonus." "They send a signal to our computer every ten minutes." "It tells Sue where Lily's just been, but bears rarely stay put." "Once we're in the forest we need the radio-tracking equipment to fine-tune the search." "Hey, bear!" "It sounds easy-peasy, but the terrain makes it a nightmare for the crew, and for me." "It's me, bear." "It's not at all easy, this, because all you've got to go on is the direction that this antennae's giving me, and I thought she was in this direction and what it's doing is directing me" "to this big, blinking rock here, so it means I've been dragging my backside through the forest towards the signal and it's not a signal, it's just a bounced signal off this rock so she's not here, she's over there." "When I first started my graduate work, my first walk was an absolute disaster." "I was just stumbling through the woods after her and not learning anything, except how hard it was." "Oh, man, get off me, ohh!" "You just have to keep with it." "I find myself going halfway towards a Lynn Rogers impersonation in the hope that the bears think it's him and they come out to see him." ""Hey, bear," ""it's me, bear," ""old Doctor Rogers, bear."" "Not working yet." "This would be a good time for Gordon to try to connect with Lily cos it, it looks like she's bedded." "She's been in that area for, hmm, about an hour and 15 minutes." "I've got one thing on my side, Hope is tiny and needs to rest." "Finally after an hour of bushwhacking I catch up with them." "Hey, Lily." "Hey, Lily." "And thankfully Lily's more concerned about her cub than me." "Through my lens I can see Hope's eyes are still blue." "Later, they'll turn brown." "Lynn's told me he's never seen a cub out of the den at such a young age." "At last I feel relaxed enough to begin filming." "Hope is totally dependent on her mother." "She needs to nurse every few minutes." "But Lily is only three-years-old and, like all first-time mothers, she's having to learn on the job." "If she continues to accept me, and I can keep up with her," "I'll have a ringside seat to see how she and baby Hope get on." "Hey, bear." "Hey, bear." "Over the next few days I return to the same spot." "Lily's allowing me to watch her, but only from a distance." "I can understand why she's anxious." "With wolves around, the forest floor is a dangerous place for a cub." "To be safe, Hope needs to learn to climb trees as soon as possible and her instincts are already kicking in." "She's pawing at trees." "Even with the right instincts, cubs like Hope, born to first-time mothers, have only a 50% chance of surviving their first year." "It's been two weeks since Lily and Hope first emerged from their winter den." "Lily hasn't had a decent meal since last autumn." "She's been relying on her fat reserves." "Now Hope is more mobile, she'll be travelling further to find the food she needs." "Following them is drawing me even deeper into their world." "As Gordon hopefully can gain the trust of some wild bears, his mission is to become ignored, so if the bears trust him enough that they regard him as inconsequential to their lives, he can be there." "He's not a friend, but he's not an enemy." "He's not a food giver, but he's not a competitor." "He's just there and pretty soon they say," ""You're of no value whatsoever to me." ""I'm just gonna go about my life and pay no attention to you."" "That's when we get scientific data." "I reckon that log was full of beetle grubs or something because she's absolutely demolished it." "It's as if someone's thrown a hand grenade at it." "I pick through the matchwood when she moves away." "OK, this is what she was doing, ripping this open." "Just see if I can find what she was after." "You'd be quite surprised how much of their diet is made up of tiny little creatures." "Easy, girl." "OK, so I am just ripping open your log, I wanted to find out what was in here." "Lynn and Sue have taught me gestures the bears understand." "Hands up means I have no food." "To spend a little bit of time with her in this way when it's nice and quiet in the forest, she and Hope are just doing their thing, it's really good." "Being scared of a black bear." "Oh, what a fool." "Hey, Lily, are you checking me out?" "Are you checking me out?" "Hey, good girl." "Bring that cub over." "Bring that cub over, OK?" "You're a lovely beast." "Hey, here comes Hope." "What is that cub making all that noise for?" "Look at the cub of yours, Lily." "Hello, she's very curious." "OK, we done, we done here, we're done." "I think, I think, Lily, OK, gonna give me a kiss." "What am I doing?" "I've just asked a wild bear for a kiss." "The better a person knows a bear, the more they like 'em." "Because as you get to know 'em, you get to realise they're not the dangerous animals we once thought and so a person can get to feel close to a certain bear, but if you feel that way too quickly," "it could be just one action on the bear's part destroys everything." "It's taken just a few weeks for me to feel really connected with this family." "Lily, are you interested?" "But today, she doesn't come straight up and take the greeting from my hand." "She's nervous about something." "I think there's a tree squeaking over there." "It's me, Lily." "A grape or two?" "That's the deal, you and I, we're gonna be friends." "Yeah, we're gonna be good friends." "I almost patted her there." "Just seems a natural thing to do." "Every time I see Lily, Hope plucks up a little bit more courage." "I'm gonna put my hand out to your cub, is that OK?" "Oh, no, wow, Hope." "That was the first time I've touched your nose." "Oh, hello." "Are you coming closer?" "Are you coming closer?" "Hey, I don't really have to tell you how magical this is, because who in the world wouldn't want to do this?" "OK, hey, girl." "I'm sorry, no, no." "Ow." "I've just been bitten for the first time by a bear." "She just bit my leg." "It's OK, it wasn't a bite." "Um..." "I was just looking up at Hope when I wasn't keeping an eye on Lily and what she was doing, she just grabbed my leg with her teeth." "I wouldn't call it a bite, it's not a bite." "It's just a, a warning, really." "Huh, funny how quickly it changes." "OK, Lily." "I don't have anything." "Good bear." "Hey, bear." "OK, that lip-smacking is her letting me know that she's nervous." "I think Lily, I am gonna stand up." "OK, bear." "Hey, Lily, I'm gonna stand up." "Hey, girl, I'm just gonna back away, you're not too happy." "Hope's been scared by this." "I ain't got nothing." "No, off you go." "I realise now that Lily was giving me hints to back off and I wasn't listening." "Hey, Lily." "I'm just gonna move." "That was me being told off." "It's just a bit of a shock." "You're going hoochy-coochy, hoochy-coochy to a baby bear on this side and you've got Mummy Bear suddenly putting her jaws round your upper thigh." "She just went like this and grabbed on like that, ohh." "There's no blood or anything, it's not, it's, it's just a test bite and it's not even a bite, cos a bite, I always think, draws blood or leaves a mark." "That was more just a, a caress with her teeth." "Hope, we might have to call the fire brigade to get you down out of there." "It looks as if someone's stuck a toy teddy up in the tree." "Hey, Hope!" "On a positive note, Hope's climbing's coming on!" "What's also helped is I've begun to see bears in a different light." "This spring, I feel I've become part of a little bear family." "But my time with them on this visit is running out." "Every day I spend on their trail seems precious." "I don't want to miss out on any of Hope's growing up." "Right..." "Oh, give me a desert, please." "Now, she's not climbing these trees because she's scared." "I don't think, I think she's just testing her skills." "She's picking at every variety of tree that she possibly can and seeing if she can climb it." "When you think about it, these bears, cubs have to learn a huge amount." "Amazing to think that this little cub within a year is gonna be on its own." "It's already May." "Soon I have to go back to the UK." "The bears remind me why I want to return as soon as possible." "They start putting on a show." "They're telling each other they're available by rubbing scent everywhere they can." "Love, it seems, is in the air." "June will be coming into heat this year." "Once the mating season starts her yearlings will be on their own." "And June will finally get some time to herself." "Lily can smell that the breeding season has begun." "But what's weird is that she begins to react, too." "She's just stomping about like that." "She's scent marking but a mother with such a young cub shouldn't mate again until next year." "I've got no idea what's going on." "It's quite odd." "It's going to be dark in about half an hour, so I think I'm going to have to leave Lily and Hope." "OK, Lily, where are you heading to?" "I haven't got a clue." "These bears..." "These bears are something else." "Bye-bye." "Tomorrow I leave for seven weeks." "It's a chance to see my own family." "But I had no idea a remarkable drama would start to play out after I left." "Fortunately the crew who stayed on were able to record what happened." "They film Lily climbing down a tree, leaving Hope alone." "It seems her head has been turned by a male and she starts following his scent trail." "It's not unusual for a mother to leave a cub for a few hours, but as evening approaches Sue realises something's wrong." "After six hours I went out to the location where I had last seen them together and I listened." "And it sounded like some animal, possibly Hope, was scurrying around among the trees." "Because of the GPS on Lily, I knew where she was, and she was several miles away." "That evening a storm arrives." "Lynn and Sue think Lily tried to get back to Hope." "We suspect that Lily couldn't find Hope's scent at that point, that the scent had been washed away." "Lily is obviously missing Hope." "I would just imagine this cub is scared and hungry and desperately wanting her mother." "Hope is still dependent on Lily's milk, and too young to survive on her own." "When I took Lynn out to show him the red pine where I had last seen Hope, there on the side of the road was a fresh sign that either a wolf or a coyote had been around." "I think," "I think the chances of them getting back together now are getting slimmer by the day." "I don't know what to think, is she dead?" "Did Lily find Hope's body?" "By the fifth day Lynn and Sue believe that Hope is dead." "Even when a neighbour reports seeing a lone bear cub, Lynn is pessimistic." "It's a long way from where Hope was last seen." "It's hard to believe that this is Hope out here actually because it's just so far." "OK." "She was on the..." "Came down, she went, she went down." "OK." "Did you see her?" "Yeah." "It's me, bear, it's me." "Don't you think that's her?" "It's gotta be her, right?" "Yep." "Yeah." "Amazingly, it is Hope." "This tiny cub has walked over two miles back to where she was born." "Ah." "Sue's happy." "You're going to make me cry!" "But finding Hope puts Lynn in a dilemma." "There were so many thoughts went through my mind about what's going to happen to this cub, what should I do as a researcher, how much should I get involved, should I interfere and help them get back together?" "What is the right thing to do here?" "Hope is starving." "Should Lynn intervene to save her, or should he let nature take its course?" "Here's what we could use." "He's made his decision." "I don't know if you have kennel carrier kind of thing?" "You do?" "Lynn tries to attract Hope down the tree with a stick dipped in milk." "Hope is so hungry she's prepared to overcome her fear." "Come on, come down." "It's me, bear." "Come on down, it's OK." "But Hope is a wild animal." "And she's feisty." "BEAR GROWLS" "BEAR SCREAMS" "Lynn, Lynn?" "Well, I'm just wondering what's going to happen next." "I'm really wondering how" "Lily will feel." "Lily is just a mile away." "Lynn is going to try and reunite them..." "But he's in unchartered territory." "The borrowed pet carrier has a faulty latch." "Now what?" "It's a disaster." "Lynn needs to come up with a new plan." "It's me, bear." "He decides to try to find Lily, but with the sun setting he doesn't have long." "It's me, bear." "He's found her, just a few hundred metres into the woods." "He tries to lead her to where Hope was last seen." "After so many days apart, Lynn fears Lily may not accept her cub." "Just an outpouring of pure animal emotion is the strongest I've ever seen." "Little Hope bawling and bawling for wanting to nurse and be with her mother and have that contact." "And the mother responding with, "Uh, uh, uh,"" "which means, "I want you."" "This is one of the most satisfying moments in my research." "It's me, bear, don't worry." "Well, let's just go back to the van and be thankful." "I'm going to sleep good tonight." "Next time, I return in the summer to find that Lily and Hope's lives have taken another dramatic turn." "Hope's not feeding properly, she's weak and struggling to survive." "Lynn wonders whether he has made the right decision to re-unite them." "And I don't know how far we should go to save Hope's life." "American black bears have a fearsome reputation." "BEAR GROWLS Oh, aye, aye!" "Steady, steady!" "But they also inspired the original cuddly toy." "It looks as if someone's stuck a toy teddy up the tree." "'I'm Gordon Buchanan.'" "I'm a wildlife cameraman and I'm trying to find out what black bears are really like." "To film them this close, I've had to face my own fears." "BEAR GRUNTS" "'But it's allowed me to see bears in a totally new way.'" "Oh, wow, look at that!" "As spring turns to summer, they draw me even deeper into their lives." "On this visit, I end up helping to keep a tiny, starving bear cub alive." "CUB MOANS FEEBLY" "Minnesota, in the northeast of the US, contains a vast and beautiful wilderness." "This is bear country." "'Getting close to wild bears in thick forest sounds like a crazy thing to do.'" "Hey, bear." "LYNN:" "It's me, bear." "But three months ago, with the help of bear biologist Lynn Rogers," "I started to gain the trust of a young female, Lily, and her only cub, Hope." "Now I'm going to take her heart rate." "It's a lot easier with a stethoscope." "This is surreal." "I discovered just how accepting these bears could be." "I've become entranced by Hope and amazed how Lily's let me film intimate details of family life." "Oh, that is nice." "That is super-nice." "Are you gonna give me a kiss?" "What am I doing?" "I've just asked a wild bear for a kiss." "But since I was last here, their lives have fallen apart." "Hope became separated from Lily." "All alone, this baby bear was slowly starving to death." "It's OK." "HOPE SCREAMS" "Moved by her plight, Lynn did something most biologists would never do - he stepped in to reunite mother and cub." "Their togetherness was short-lived." "They became separated again, then suddenly, Lily seemed to lose all interest in her little daughter." "Tiny Hope, just six months old, is once again alone in this huge forest." "Now I'm back in Minnesota, I'm wondering what on earth will happen next." "'Lynn's had glimpses of Hope in the woods, 'but she's vulnerable to starvation and predators.'" "Every day could be her last." "The last bears that I saw before I left were Lily and Hope and they were a picture of a bonded unit." "Here was a mother that had spent six months with this cub, invested so much time and her own resources in looking after this cub, and while I've been away, she's abandoned her, you know," "something that I would never have predicted would have happened, that she would just one day walk away from her cub." "She'll have her own reasons for doing that, and it will be interesting to speak to Lynn and to Sue and to find out what they think, why has this happened?" "Hi, honey, I'm home!" "Hey, Gordon, hey!" "Hey, how are you?" "How's it going?" "'Dr Lynn Rogers and his assistant Sue Mansfield 'have been at the sharp end while I've been away.'" "Hello." "Welcome back." "For both of you it must have been a stressful time." "Yeah, it..." "I mean, sleepless nights." "An emotional roller coaster." "What do we do?" "Decisions, emotions." "I suppose you do get mothers that abandon cubs, so it's one of these things that happens and nobody really knows why." "What's your theory on why Lily abandoned her?" "Well, it's..." "We just don't know." "The reason is, in the past, we've seen mothers lose cubs." "Could have been that they abandoned them." "We don't know." "'We want to find out why Lily turned her back on Hope, 'but Lynn also wants to learn 'what happens to these abandoned cubs." "'To do that, we're going to have to find Hope." "'All the adult bears Lynn studies wear tracking collars, 'which send signals to our computers." "'It helps us locate them in the vast forest." "'But Hope's not wearing a collar, 'so I have to use surveillance cameras if I'm to find out what's become of her.'" "Hmm." "This is the last place where I actually saw Hope, on this tree." "That's really weird." "Hmm, doesn't feel that long ago, but a lot's happened since then." "Hope was here, Lily was here." "'Fortunately for me, bears stick to their territories." "'My best chance to find Hope is to set camera traps up 'in her mother's patch of forest." "'While I try and find baby Hope, Lynn looks for Lily.'" "It's me, bear." "Lynn's studied black bears for over 40 years, but he's not your average bear biologist." "Lily is coming." "It's me, bear." "It's me." "No other bear researchers can get this close." "By offering wild bears a little bit of food, Lynn reassures them." "These bears then allow him into their personal space." "OK, there." "There you go." "OK." "What I wish you would tell me is, why did you leave Hope?" "Hmm?" "Why did you do that?" "It made you look pretty bad, you know." "You're making bears look bad." "While we're sitting here, we'll just..." "Stay, stay where you are." "Come on, bear." "Where are you going?" "There must be a good reason for Lily's unmotherly behaviour, but even Lynn finds it puzzling." "She's off on a mission." "I've used remote cameras to find everything from birds of paradise to tigers, but never a missing bear cub." "A nice big tree here." "I'm just looking for some evidence that a bear has spent time here." "There's nothing on the ground." "It's a good one." "You can imagine a bear in it." "Oh, look here." "Some scratch marks there, tiny little scratch marks." "This could be a clue Hope's still here in her mother's territory." "I'm going to put one here." "It's a good starter." "Black bear cubs climb trees to stay out of harm's way." "Pine trees are best - their rough bark makes them easier to race up and away from predators." "If she's going to climb this tree, she might have a mooch around." "The scratch marks are on this side, so maybe this is the side that she would climb it." "I think we just try and blitz this area and hope for the best." "It will be quite interesting, also, just to see what other animals are in this forest." "Without Lily to protect her," "Hope will probably be sticking close to trees like this." "It's just a little extra enticement, if she's in this area, to come to the bottom of this tree." "And also, it would hold her in this area." "This takes maybe two seconds to fire up and power up and get up to speed, so if she's here, starts climbing, the camera might be too late, so the grapes might hold her long enough." "Sue joins me to place the last camera." "It's me, bear." "'We know it is possible for bear cubs to survive on their own, 'but not one quite as young as Hope." "'We're giving her an extra boost, 'just until she's old enough to fend for herself.'" "This is the formula milk for Hope." "If we put a little bit in now, when she comes back, it's enough to keep her attention here and then just settle down and give her something to eat as soon as she arrives." "'To intervene in this way is controversial, 'but Lynn and Sue think we might learn something new from Hope.'" "It's me, bear." "It's me, cubby." "It's me, bear." "'I'm not quite sure if this is the right thing to do...'" "It's me, cubby." "'...but waiting to see if Hope comes, I realise something.'" "What began as a filming project has become something much more." "'Usually, I keep a distance from animals, 'but I've followed Hope so closely for so long, I really care what happens to her.'" "Gordon, I think we should just reset the trail cameras and leave." "I just don't think she's anywhere around." "Yeah." "STATIC AND BEEPING" "Lynn's caught up with Lily again." "She's searching for something, but it's not her daughter." "Don't be like this!" "Right here." "Come on." "Here, grapes." "Look, she doesn't care." "She's on the trail of a bear, probably a male, probably coming into heat." "And she paid no attention, no interest in the grapes I brought." "I showed her the bag, didn't care." "She wants that bear." "It's time to mate." "Bears with young cubs don't usually go into heat." "For some reason, Lily's drive to mate has overpowered her instincts to mother." "A month ago, this bear was taking care of little Hope and the only thing she cared about was keeping that cub safe." "Something came over her, I don't know what it is, something to do with maybe being a young mother, whatever." "She ditched Hope, she's after a male." "Don't completely understand it, but that's why we do research." "Juliet, Lily's aunt, lives close by." "She's another bear I've got to know really well this year." "Her three cubs are the same age as Hope." "Maybe catching up with this family will throw light on why Lily's lost interest in her own cub." "Hey, bear." "'Though I've been away since spring, 'the bears still remember the sound of my voice." "Hey, bear." "It's me, bear." "I can see!" "Hey, girl." "Hey, Juliet." "Hey, girl." "This is all part of Lynn's unconventional technique, which is by giving a bear a few hand-outs, they'll let you, well, touch them so you can put a collar on them, and follow them and just observe their natural behaviour." "To be honest, I was really dubious about it at the beginning, but now I see it," "I really see it is quite incredible what Lynn has been able to do." "You are my favourite bear, Juliet." "Definitely my favourite." "And it's because she loves me back." "That's right, Juliet, isn't it?" "That's the end of the programme, so there you go, that's OK." "SHE GRUNTS It's OK." "See, we're not friends." "She has no feelings for me or anyone else whatsoever." "Once a hand-out is finished, that's it." "The deal's over." "Off she goes." "Hey, cub." "Juliet may not have any feelings for me, but a deal brokered with a greeting of nuts means she'll now let me get close to her and her family." "She's settled down, ready to feed her cubs." "Juliet is an experienced mother." "This is her third litter." "It's normal to have two or three cubs." "The cubs' overwhelming demand for milk ensures Juliet's urge to care for her young remains strong." "Lynn thinks producing milk for just one cub, like Hope, may not have been enough to sustain Lily's mothering hormones, which could be why the urge to mate kicked in instead." "It's just amazing to be this close to these bears." "It's quite easy to forget what an amazing experience this is." "One must always remind oneself that they are big, wild animals." "It's part of bear communication." "She's just saying, "Hey, you're invading my space."" "She does it by charging at me, but I got the message." "As well as providing milk and protection," "Juliet's there to show her cubs how to find food." "There's a short period each year when newborn deer fawns are unsteady on their feet." "Black bears will turn predatory if an easy meal presents itself." "This is an enormous protein hit, a change from the usual diet of shoots, berries and bugs." "Hope has no mum to show her what to eat and where to find it." "I'm really keen to see if my camera traps can reveal anything about how she's getting on." "What have you got for me?" "Maybe nothing." "You get negativity and positivity in equal measures doing this." "I've done too much of it to get carried away and get overexcited." "A very unflattering shot of my face." "Gosh, OK." "No bears." "These are all night-time images, no bears." "A chipmunk." "There's a lot of them about." "Och, come on!" "If I was in the business of looking for mice or looking for chipmunks," "I'd be very happy at the moment, but I'm looking for Hope." "She's not in any of these." "That's rubbish, just rubbish." "'In the absence of hard evidence, we turn our attention to softer stuff." "'Bear poo, or scat, tells us what they've been eating.'" "Lynn...is that baby bear scat?" "Oh." "It's quite fresh." "Boy!" "From the size of it," "I bet it really is Hope." "Yeah." "Hope's scat reveals she's way cannier than we thought." "I think the most amazing thing that Hope might be eating are the remains of crayfish." "I'm trying to think how she'd..." "Oh, there's a big one there!" "LYNN GASPS" "Do you reckon she's just seeing them in the water and then... grabbing them?" "There's one there." "Do you think I can catch it?" "I know how to catch them." "You come at them from behind." "Yeah?" "OK, I'm going to try that." "All right, watch this, fast as lightning." "Oh, yeah, I've got one." "Oh, cool!" "There we go." "A baby one." "Yeah." "I suppose a kind of protein-packed meal." "I'm just amazed she could catch one." "Yeah." "This is great news." "Hope seems to be working things out for herself." "Every morning I head into the woods to check the camera traps I've left out." "Every morning I wonder whether Hope's made it through the night." "So, I wonder if a bear has visited this site." "Something has, because I left some grapes here, and they're gone." "Isn't this going to be interesting!" "This is a video camera trap, as opposed to a stills camera trap, so we'll get moving images." "OK." "Right, what do we have?" "OK, come on." "Oh!" "It's Hope!" "The briefest glimpse of a little bear round the back of the tree." "That's fantastic." "It's exactly what I wanted to find." "A tree that Hope was coming to." "Great." "This might give us a real chance to learn where Hope goes." "But to track her, and find out what else she's surviving on, we'll need to put a radio collar on her." "You remind me to remind you to switch it on, OK?" "This is not going to be easy." "'The first step will be to gain Hope's trust." "I'm here listening out for any signs of this bear cub coming back, and the only thing I can hear is the incessant buzzing of mosquitoes in my ears." "Get off!" "Swine!" "Oh!" "The chipmunks are down there drinking the formula milk that's been put out for the bear." "'Hours of waiting, and then...'" "Hey, Hope." "Hi!" "A big change since the last time I saw her." "Good bear." "She's still tiny, though." "I just can't believe that she's out here all by herself." "Very independent and resilient little bear." "I think it didn't take her long to just kick into survival mode." "It's funny, because, as much as they're like us, or I keep on putting human attributes on them, they're completely dissimilar, because you think, right, OK, if Lily and Hope got together," "would Lily have any sense of guilt?" "But that's just not an emotion that bears would have." "No, I don't think bears feel guilt." "It's great to see her after all this time." "I was beginning to think she wasn't going to show up at all." "You notice sometimes she'll spit it out on the back of her paw." "Is that intentional?" "Yeah, they sort of use it like a plate or something." "Keep it off the ground." "Yeah." "The food has helped her, but 99.9% of the time, she is alone in this forest making her own way." "And it's plain sailing from here on as far as food for her." "It's just going to get better and better throughout the year." "Yep." "The bushes are just hanging with green fruit right now." "It just needs to ripen." "This extra food is just the means to an end." "The touching just helps her become accustomed to having hands on her, and hopefully we can get a collar on her and find out exactly where she's going." "THEY CHUCKLE" "That is a relaxed-looking bear." "As cute as Hope is, helping to keep a wild bear alive and collaring her is not something everyone approves of." "The local newspaper has supported Lynn's work, but this time, the editor, Marshall Helmberger, thinks he's gone too far." "Lynn has been kind of a lightning rod for controversy for some time." "You know, there've been a number of run-ins that Lynn has had with a lot of the more mainstream bear biologists, and wildlife biologists in general don't always see eye to eye with some of Lynn's methods." "You know, nature isn't a Disney production." "It...it, er..." "You know, young animals die all the time." "You know, with Hope," "I think I would have let nature take its course." "Have you ever had so many dilemmas over one bear?" "Well, probably not." "But sometimes you got to do new things to learn new things." "The only thing we would have learned if she died is that an orphaned cub of that age can die - we already knew that." "But I thought they could learn a lot more about the wild ways living out here their whole life, so I thought, I bet you with just a little supplemental food until the natural food is available and she can eat it," "we'd give her a better start." "Yeah." "Another thing that she can teach us is the whole thing about nature versus nurture." "With no mother to show her, we wondered is she going to eat the same as other bears?" "Does she instinctively know what is the right thing to eat?" "And we'll see what kind of mother she is with no example." "Is she going to be a slightly screwed-up bear?" "You know, when people have these traumatic events in their childhood, they grow up slightly different or slightly screwy." "Is that going to happen with her?" "That's one of the things I have never studied in an orphan this long before." "I plan to study her for her whole life." "Hope's already proved she's a determined little cub, but she's defenceless against the predators stalking these woods, animals we only see on camera traps, like foxes, fishers and wolves." "Juliet's three cubs get all the protection they need." "ELECTRONIC BEEPING" "Yeah, definitely off in this direction." "Hey, bear." "It's me, bear." "Juliet's family is a yardstick to help us measure Hope's progress." "'But today it's harder than usual to find them.'" "Hmm, she's very close, but this rain is not a good thing." "It just makes them really nervous." "You think of an animal that's fearful of predation, every single noise it's wary of and what happens when it's raining like this, it's just...it's too noisy, it makes them nervous." "THUNDER RUMBLES" "She's been right here." "Oh, she's literally been just here." "This ants' nest, she's had a feed." "A nice footprint there, all the ants still scurrying about." "As you can see, she's just moved off in that direction." "By the time I reach them, Juliet's cubs are parked up a tree." "It's the safest place to be while their mother is elsewhere." "THUNDER RUMBLES" "These cubs will spend much of their time right up in the trees and just staying very, very quiet, and Juliet will be off foraging." "They're still feeding from the mum, so they're not having to find as much nutrition as she is, to kind of keep the engine running." "It's a little bit sad when I see these three cubs with their mum." "I think about poor little Hope, who's by herself." "Hey, girl." "Jeez, I didn't notice you coming back." "Nice and steady, steady, steady." "I've spent so much time with the bears, I'm noticing subtle things, like how Juliet tells her cubs all is safe." "JULIET GRUNTS SOFTLY I heard her making that kind of noise, and the cubs are starting to come down, so that was obviously the signal for them to all move off." "Ah..." "Did you see how tentatively they come down?" "They're really nervous." "These cubs are spoilt." "They get to play with each other, their food's provided by their mother, life is easy for them." "But for Hope, life is very different." "Being abandoned at this age may well affect the relationships she has with bears in the future." "I think it's a miracle that she's survived this far." "Hello!" "It's quite a nice place for you to hang out." "Are you going to come over and see me?" "Come on." "Come on, chipmunk." "I've got some bigger nuts." "It'll be worth the effort, come on." "In my Minnesota cabin, almost alone," "I'm reminded of how many thousands of miles away I am from my home." "This is, I suppose, my idea of heaven." "I've got a cabin beside a beautiful lake." "As great as this is and as perfect as it is, a big part of me still wants to be with my wife and kids." "But they're coming out here, so it will be perfect then." "I'm trying to make some friends in the meantime." "By mid-June, the forest is bursting with food." "The bears subtly shift their diet day to day." "Right now, berries are beginning to ripen." "Wow!" "Loads, have a look." "Just laden with blueberries." "And it's great to see these natural foods coming up." "This is the kind of thing that's going to really hold Hope's attention." "It's going to fill her up and she'll become less and less reliant on this supplementary food that we've been giving her." "It's fantastic Hope can get more food from the forest than from us." "She hasn't visited the pine tree for several days but that means our chances of getting the radio collar on her could be slipping away." "Time for treats." "I've brought in, um, a few of her favourite things - grape, the formula milk and some mealworms." "But when she gets bigger, she's going to move out of here and it's going to be impossible to keep track of her." "That's why it's so important that we get the collar on her, and so important that she gets used to this physical contact." "I sit under Hope's favourite tree and wait." "I do not believe it." "Hey, Hope." "How on earth have you managed to make it?" "Hey?" "Now..." "Hey, we've got some of this delicious milk." "Try some of this." "It's got all of your favourite things." "It got egg yolk it's got fish oil..." "HOPE WHIMPERS SOFTLY" "Come on, you can move forward." "You have to move forward, or you can come up on my shoulder." "You know, I just think this little animal is one of the most incredible little characters I've ever known." "Against all of the odds, she's made it." "She should still be with her mum for another whole year." "We have to get her used to touch so we can put this collar on and keep track of her, find out what life for a bear like this will be like in the future." "Don't get worried." "Just the neck, it's just the neck." "I think if she's made it this far..." "Maybe too soon to speak, but I think you're going to be OK, Hope." "HE CHUCKLES SOFTLY" "There are times in your life when you know you're doing things that you will remember for a very long, long, long time." "And this is one of them." "She just silently walked away." "Don't worry, girl, everything's going to be all right." "With Hope doing so well, I can breathe a sigh of relief." "It's perfect timing - my family has flown out from Scotland to join me." "They want to see what's been keeping me away for so long." "Mum, the chipmunk!" "CHATTERING" "'The plan was to introduce them to some of the bears, 'but Lola and Harris seem more obsessed with chipmunks.'" "Leave only footprints, not bits of grass sticking down his hole." "He'll talk into that." "He will talk into it." "What do you think he'll say?" "He might go up your ear and come out of your nose, and then..." "and then he might live in your hair." "He could, but a bear could live in my hair!" "Let's set it running and then back off to a safe distance." "Do it all day?" "Yeah." "Have a look at this." "I have a stowaway in my car." "Look, look, there he is." "CHUCKLES" "I must have left the door open." "Right, sir." "Chippie chipmunk, where are you?" "I quite like having a chipmunk in the car." "Oh, he's on the floor." "Nobody here?" "OK, I need to get out and film the bears." "'Hopefully, the chipmunks will keep Wendy and the kids entertained for a while." "'I have unfinished business with Lily.'" "# Look for the bare necessities The simple bare necessities" "# Forget about your worries and your strife... #" "Yeah, man." "# ..." "Look for the bare necessities... #" "'Lily is moving really fast." "'I want to know, if she's not caring for her cub, 'what exactly is she doing with her day?" "'" "Hey, Lily." "It's me, bear." "Hey, Lily." "I don't know what she's after." "I don't think she's trying to get away from me." "Well, she's not." "She's just doing her thing." "Slow down." "What's she got there?" "Sniffing about." "Let's see if I can move in closer without upsetting all these ants." "It's OK, girl." "Hey, girl." "Oh, look at that, man." "There are hundreds." "Hundreds and hundreds." "She's just hoovering them up with her tongue." "Just go for the pupae, not the ants, because the ants can bite." "Oh, wow!" "There was pupae there and it's all gone." "I've got a bug up my nose." "Apologies." "Really typical foraging behaviour." "There's no three-course meal." "She just gets whatever she can find on the way." "A few mouthfuls and then she's off again." "# If you look under the rocks and plants" "# And take a glance at the tiny ants" "# And maybe try a few... #" ""You eat ants?" "Hey, sure I do."" "She's probably getting a mouthful of food every couple of minutes." "This is what it's all about - bear-walking, walking with bears, call it what you want." "It's just nice." "It's really, really nice." "She's scent-marking all these branches." "She's on the hunt for a male, and that's the reason she left Hope." "Hey, Lily, are you going to have a rest?" "I suggest that would be a really good idea." "Just sit down, rest, take it easy, have a snooze." "Eventually, Lily does slow down and takes a break near Lynn's cabin." "It's too good an opportunity for Wendy, Lola and Harris to miss." "I'm going to take Wendy and the kids in to see their first bear in the wild." "Considering I was scared when I first came to go and see bears," "I can't believe, the journey I've been on, that I'm now happy to take my kids in to see this bear and feel completely comfortable and safe." "I should feel slightly nervous!" "But I trust you and I trust Lynn, so..." "Are you worried, Harris?" "No, there's nothing to worry about." "This is exciting, isn't it?" "Yes." "TRACKING DEVICE BEEPS" "Don't run!" "You take my hand." "OK, nice and quiet, nice and quiet." "Me coming with you?" "You wait here." "We'll stay here." "You might scare her, Harris." "I know Lily's easy-going, but for their first meeting with a wild black bear, the family's hanging back." "Hey, Lily." "Hey, bear." "'Gordon has gotten to know her, so Gordon's gonna be OK going up to her." "'In fact, she was sleeping here and when she saw that it was Gordon, 'everything was OK." "She's still just lying down.'" "I actually...have complete trust that he knows what he's doing." "He just looks completely at ease and comfortable, as does the bear." "It's quite..." "Why do you think there is all that mythology around bears if none of these bears are known to attack anyone?" "Yeah." "Well, once in a great while, they do." "But they've made them into the modern demons." "It's just all a big myth." "If she didn't know Gordon and she wasn't comfortable, what might she have done?" "Oh, ran away." "Just run away?" "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah." "Our perception of bears is such a contradiction." "On one hand, they're an animal to be feared, and on the other hand, they're a cuddly toy that you take to bed or a cartoon character or some friendly woodland creature in a movie." "It's walking away into the forest." "Bye!" "I had absolutely no fear at all, once I saw it." "Yeah." "I was kind of apprehensive going in." "I think it's the anticipation of not knowing what to expect." "And then as soon as you saw it and it looked at you, it just put its head down again." "What we've seen here with Wendy and the kids and Gordon shows that attitudes can change." "People that were once afraid of bears see real bears, they learn the truth from the bears themselves." "My summer visit to Minnesota is coming to an end." "I've become more attached to these animals than I ever imagined." "And my time here has helped unravel some bear mysteries." "We now know more about why some bears lose their mothering instinct and abandon their offspring." "What we don't know is how that'll affect a young cub like Hope, down the line." "A collar on her could help work that out." "The remote camera at Hope's feeding station has just sent an image to Lynn's cabin, showing she's there right now." "So we're dashing off to see if we can try and find her and try and get this collar on her." "It's me, bear." "It's me, little cubby." "If she was still with Lily, would she sleep in the tree or would she sleep at the bottom?" "If she was still with Lily, she'd be snuggled up to Lily at the base." "Here's a cub that would be with her mother, would normally be trusting her mother to alert her to danger, and she has to do it all on her own." "Lynn, I think she's coming." "She might be coming." "It's amazing." "She's just looking out to see if there's anything there, whether it's safe to come down." "The things that control this cub's life is fear and food." "She has to have food to grow, to survive." "But she's worried, minute by minute, of what is going to eat me." "In many ways, this is a very important night, because it is this bond, it's like a wedding night - instead of a ring, it's a collar." "Because with this collar, you're going to be able to find her any time of the day." "Hope definitely wants the food, but she's really suspicious of the collar Lynn's had made." "HOPE GROWLS" "HOPE GROWLS" "HOPE GROWLS" "If Lynn spooks Hope, we might not get another shot at this." "HOPE GROWLS" "This is the hardest bear I've ever had to try to put a collar on and it's the littlest!" "Yeah, that's how she's got this far." "HOPE GROWLS" "This bear is no pushover." "I think that's why she's lasted as long." "She's a tough character." "She's pretty wise, despite her young age." "It's new to her, and her instincts are kicking in, just saying, "Avoid this." ""If it need be, just lash out." HOPE GROWLS" "It's a new thing." "It's a new thing." "Yes!" "HOPE GROWLS" "After all this time, finally we've got a collar on this bear." "And all being well, we'll now be able to know where she goes, we'll be able to follow her, we'll be able to film her and just find out exactly where she goes, how far she goes" "and how she's managed to make it this far." "Now I'll just calm her down." "Well done." "I bet she's going to have a few surprises for us." "Yeah." "Oh, yeah." "Yeah." "Next time, it's autumn." "In Minnesota, that means hunting season." "My intent is to, you know, kill a wild bear." "The bigger the bear, the better." "'To protect our bears, I'll have to put myself in the firing line.'" "And Hope does surprise me, in a way I would never have predicted." "The American black bear has a reputation for being unpredictable..." "BEAR GROWLS ...and dangerous." "(Maybe I'll just sit back down!" ")" "'I'm Gordon Buchanan." "'I've filmed many of the world's dangerous animals... 'from a distance.'" "I just would never have believed that I'd get this close." "'But getting this close has changed my feelings about bears...forever.'" "You're so strong!" "You are so strong!" "'I've spent spring and summer following the dramas of a family of bears." "'Now it's autumn, they face a new threat.'" "From the youngest through to the oldest none of these bears are safe." "'This time, I'm no longer just a cameraman." "'I'm a bodyguard.'" "Have a look at this, look!" "That's a hunter's jacket!" "'Now, we could all be in the line of fire.'" "GUNSHOT" "'I've returned to the American state of Minnesota." "'This spectacular wilderness 'is THE best place in the world 'to film black bears in the wild." "'In the run-up to hibernation, 'there's an extra sense of urgency in the air." "'I want to see how bears get ready for the long winter ahead." "'But first, I want to catch up with one of my favourites" " Lily.'" "Hey, Lily!" "Hey, bear!" "'Lily is one of 12 bears in this forest that are wearing radio-tracking collars.'" "Gosh, she must be pretty close, actually." "If I manage to find Lily, this'll be the first time I've seen her in a very long while." "She'll have changed a bit, because the summer's worn on, and she's been feeding on a lot of berries through the forest." "She's really close." "Right, I'm going to start walking in here, see if we can find her." "Hey, bear." "'When I first met Lily back in the spring, she seemed like a devoted mother." "'Her first cub, Hope, was only just out of the den." "'But in May, Lily abandoned her.'" "BEAR CUB WHIMPERS" "'Hope could have been left to starve or taken into captivity, 'but the biologists I'm working with 'decided to try and help her survive in the wild." "'This feisty little cub won me over, 'as she faced up to life without her mum.'" "I think she's off in here." "We'll go through here." "Oh." "'Lily's lived apart from her cub all summer, 'but now the signals from both their radio collars 'are coming from the same neck of the woods.'" "Hey, bear." "'I want to see what's going on.'" "Hey, Lily!" "I nearly bumped right into you." "I nearly bumped right into you, bear." "Hey, Lily, it's good to see you!" "Do you remember me?" "Do you remember me?" "She's looking... a lot healthier than the last time I saw her." "I can tell she's been eating..." "Hope, that's not you, is it?" "Good Lord!" "Hello, Hope!" "'While I've been away, Hope has got back with her mum.'" "I can't believe that!" "'When I last saw her, 'she was struggling to find enough to eat and she was terrified.'" "Wow!" "Hope, you look like a proper bear!" "She looks different, she's behaving differently." "You know, trying to get close to this cub was impossible last time I was here." "'Their reunion has transformed her.'" "'I've no idea how they found each other, 'but Hope seems to be enjoying life as a carefree cub again.'" "Why is it I'm feeling scared again?" "I think it's just kind of a shock to the system." "You fly halfway across the world, back in the Northwoods of Minnesota, and suddenly there's a black bear walking up to you very boldly." "It kind of, yeah, sets your nerves on edge a little bit." "'These study bears only allow me to approach 'because of the food that I've brought." "'Once I show them it's gone, with a hand signal, 'they should let me follow them for the rest of the day.'" "OK, and they're done." "I'm walking out, so just ignore me." "Hope, ignore me!" "'Now I see the weeks spent alone have taken their toll on Hope." "'She's much smaller than she should be." "'If she goes into hibernation underweight, 'she might not survive the winter." "'I'm really worried she won't be able to make up for lost time.'" "Bit of feeding going on here." "Amazing thing about these animals - they can find food just about anywhere." "'Tasty grubs in rotting logs don't stay hidden for long.'" "Really powerful, just the way that she's raking that bark apart with her claws." "'Even so, Lily's got her work cut out." "'I'll be watching closely to see whether she can get Hope back on track." "'As food peters out, Lily and Hope will have to scour 'their whole territory to find enough to eat." "'There's nowhere else to go." "'Every neighbouring patch of forest is claimed by other bears." "'Lily's aunt, Juliet, lives right next door.'" "Hey, bear." "Not too far..." "Hello..." "Hey, bear!" "'Juliet's cubs are exactly the same age as Hope.'" "Hey, bear." "'They might tell me more about Hope's chances of catching up.'" "Hey, bear." "Oh, they've all gone." "OK, I need to... ..put my foot on the gas a little bit." "'All the bears need to stock up for winter, 'so they're constantly on the move." "'Filming them has never been harder.'" "Holy moly!" "'Juliet is way more camera-shy than Lily 'and doesn't like me getting too close.'" "Gone way ahead!" "Come on, guys!" "Hold up!" "I'm not Superman." "'While working their territory for food," "'Juliet's family can cover ten miles a day.'" "Not so much walking with bears as running after them." "See if I can just catch up, cos this is no use." "This distance is pretty bad." "'Finally, they slow down, and I get a better look at the cubs." "'Juliet is older and heavier than Lily, so she produces more milk." "'Her cubs are already bigger and stronger than Hope.'" "Hey, bear!" "'Juliet is right on the edge of her territory." "'She's been checking whether it's safe to go on." "'And now, I can see why she's heading this way.'" "Hey, bear!" "A-ha!" "I can see these bears and I can also see Charlie." "This is just the edge of Charlie's property." "He's a big friend of the bears." "'Bears are cautious around people, 'but if they're hungry, they'll overcome their fear." "'Juliet's learned she can help her cubs fatten up more quickly - 'and safely - with a helping hand from Charlie.'" "Hey, Charlie!" "How's it going?" "Good." "Good to see you!" "How about yourself?" "Yeah." "Good." "Gosh, it's amazing how fast they grow." "Well, they eat like pigs." "Yeah." "The last time I saw them, they were still..." "Well, they were still cubs, but they were much, much smaller." "Hello!" "Is this one bolder than the others?" "Can you tell them apart?" "I can't." "Hey, bear!" "Hey, do you remember me?" "Course you don't." "'Charlie lives in the remote community of Eagle's Nest." "'He's one of ten households here who regularly feed bears." "'There is no other place in the world 'where people are this tolerant of them.'" "What were your views of bears before you moved here?" "Oh, we were afraid of them." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "Well, we always heard all the horror stories." "We were afraid of them, but we slowly learned." "Now it's one big party!" "There are still people living in Eagle's Nest community that have had the same opinion of bears that you had when you first moved here." "Yes, and it's funny." "Some of them have lived here all their life." "Born and raised here, and they're still terrified." "Really?" "Crazy!" "'As people move ever deeper into bear country, 'they must deal with living alongside these large, wild animals.'" "GLASS SHATTERS" "'Bears will resort to smash and grab if they're starving." "'Many people think feeding bears creates nuisance bears." "'But that hasn't happened in Eagle's Nest." "'Because some people leave out food, 'the bears never get desperately hungry." "'There are fewer problem bears here than anywhere else in America." "'Bears won't turn down a free lunch, 'but they prefer to roam far and wide in search of wild food." "'And they need to be out there, patrolling their territory, 'to defend it from other bears." "'That's why Lily and Hope are often hard to track down." "'When I eventually do catch up with them, 'it's fun to try and work out what they've been up to.'" "Hey, Hope, I didn't realise you were actually there!" "This is where they slept last night, I'm pretty sure of that." "If you look around here, all that grass has been bedded down - there's a nice dry spot there." "They haven't moved far." "The sun's been up for about three hours." "They haven't gone anywhere." "'Black bears are expert tree climbers.'" "Are you being lazy?" "'Most of the time.'" "Are you being lazy?" "'Sometimes they go up tall trees to get a better view." "'But I don't understand why they haven't come back down.'" "Both bears are in the tree." "Hope's up above, and Lily is just a few metres off the ground." "I'm not sure what they're doing." "'Lily seems worried about something.'" "I thought I could hear another bear there." "RUSTLING" "There is!" "There's another bear!" "Hmm." "Now, have they gone up this tree because they don't like this bear or have they gone up the tree to get a better view and maybe try and figure out who it is before they get too close?" "It's quite interesting." "Let's see what happens." "Where is that other bear?" "Still there." "I'm going to have to try and stay close." "OK, let's go." "'Lily decides to challenge the intruder." "'Hope stays well clear." "'It's a young female, even younger than Lily.'" "Is she going to chase it away?" "Definitely." "You can see it's making Lily very nervous." "'Lily's territory is only big enough to support her and Hope.'" "Oh, gosh, I just can't see." "LILY EXHALES" "'She can't give up any ground.'" "LILY GROWLS" "Lily's not happy." "That's not friendly sounds, and she's seen one off." "Trying to film it, but it's just too thick in here." "'Now that the intruder's gone," "'Hope seeks out her mum for reassurance.'" "Here comes Hope." "'Lily is back to being a devoted mum." "'Because she was separated from Hope for so long," "'I thought her milk would have dried up." "'But her milk has returned 'now that Hope's started suckling again." "'And she's really making the most of it.'" "This is something I didn't expect to see again." "I didn't expect to see them back together, let alone nursing quite happily." "'In fact, they seem closer than ever." "'Hope doesn't have brothers and sisters, 'so Lily has to be chief playmate too.'" "This is really nice to see, because, for a long time," "Hope had no-one to play with." "That's one thing I felt most sorry about for her, was that she was all on her own." "She didn't... have any company, anyone to look out for her." "Ignore me, that's what you're supposed to do." "Ignore me!" "Ignore me!" "Get away!" "Part of me, I just want to pick her up and give her a big cuddle." "No!" "This is really nice, but it's not what I want." "I really do want her to pretend I'm not here, because, after all, I'm here to get natural behaviour, and sitting, shaking hands with a bear cub isn't really natural." "You're so strong!" "You are so strong!" "Gosh!" "Get!" "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "See what's happened is that her mum's got bored of her playing with her, and I think there's a big part of Hope just thinks," ""Hey, these people that keep on following me around," ""maybe I can have fun with them."" "She's not..." "She's not after food, she just wants to play, but you're not supposed to play with people... definitely not supposed to play with people." "Go." "Get whacked here!" "'Lily comes over to see what all the fuss is about." "'Bears yawn when they're anxious.'" "LILY SNORTS" "'Time to back off.'" "GORDON HUMS" "'Lily has an even smarter way of telling me that she's had enough." "'She leads me straight back to my car.'" "Weird!" "Look!" "Right, the plan is, we're going to sell this vehicle at the end of the shoot, and if it's got big scratch marks on the bonnet, guys, we're not going to get as much, so please have a bit of respect." "Yeah." "I was talking to you." "Hope, you ratbag!" "Just cos your mum does it, doesn't mean to say you should." "Oh, well." "GORDON LAUGHS" "I think she wants to get rid of me, so I'm going to go." "'But leaving Lily's territory, I spot another of the study bears.'" "There's always one lurking about that you don't even know that's there." "Hey, bear, who are you?" "Hey, bear." "Now...we have met before." "We have met." "'This might be Sarah." "Is she the young bear Lily chased off earlier?" "'" "No, no, no." "OK." "'All the study bears I've met 'will remember my smell and are happy to say hello.'" "Back off." "'They're spooked by people they don't recognise.'" "I'll be interested if this bear disappears." "See how nervous it is?" "Off you go!" "'I'm glad she's so wary." "'In two weeks' time, 'most of the strangers in this forest will be bear hunters." "'In the local hunting store," "'I see exactly what our bears will be up against." "'Hunting bears is legal in Minnesota." "'In fact, it's so popular, 'the state runs a lottery for permits to shoot them.'" "There's enough guns in here to start a revolution." "There's shotguns, machine guns, handguns, rifles, guns for shooting birds, guns for shooting bears... guns for shooting fish, guns for kids, guns for women." "If I looked hard enough, there'd probably be a gun for a baby." "It's just such a weird cultural thing for me to come into a shop where all this weaponry is on show." "'The state asks hunters not to shoot radio-collared bears." "'But it's not illegal.'" "OK." "Here." "'Every autumn, Dr Lynn Rogers 'worries about losing his research animals.'" "The hunting season is the time of year we dread all year long." "Every time we're with a bear, we think this could be the last time." "Will it get through another season?" "Can we make plans for the future?" "And every shot we hear, just..." "we feel it deep inside of us." "'Lynn and his assistant, Sue Mansfield, tie on Day-Glo ribbons, 'so hunters can clearly see these are research bears.'" "Lynn's doing everything he can on radio and in press to just sort of educate the public and educate the hunters about his study bears." "But no matter what he does, at the end of the day, um, these bears aren't legally protected, and any one of them could get shot." "'Juliet and her family have no idea 'hunting season is just round the corner." "'All they're thinking about is food." "'These days, the cubs are one step ahead of their mum." "'By following them over the year, I've seen Juliet's youngsters 'develop a mental map of their territory." "'They've learnt how to find over 100 different edible plants and insects, 'as they come in and out of season." "'Right now, the cubs are devouring dogwood berries." "'But these berries are so teensy, Juliet can't be bothered.'" "These cubs haven't grown to this size on milk alone." "They'll be doing a lot of foraging." "At the moment, for Juliet and for these three cubs, they're just eating machines, they will eat as often and as much as they can." "But it's amazing to see the change that has taken place since I've been away in these cubs - they're enormous now." "They look like proper bears, and all of that weight and size has just been built off the back of tiny, little things - things like ants, seeds, berries, all these tiny things - eaten in vast quantities." "'Hope's still struggling to catch up." "'It means she and Lily will have to stay out in the open longer, feeding, 'and that will make them more exposed to hunters." "'Lily looks like she'd prefer to be digging their den right now." "'Because Juliet's cubs are further along," "'Juliet can throw herself into it." "I've never seen a bear den before." "'And Lynn's told me there's one near here.'" "And I think that's the den over there." "'I'm not entirely comfortable with this." "'You never know who might be in.'" "Anybody at home?" "Let me just get down on my belly." "Oh, God, this just..." "it kind of feels intrinsically wrong." "Oh, gosh!" "Oh, man, you would not want a bear sneaking up behind you at this point." "You know, it's actually really narrow - much more narrow than I expected." "In fact, it's very long..." "like a six-foot channel." "There's just not much room for manoeuvre." "I can't put my hands out to the side." "Oh, gosh." "'In here, a female might give birth to four cubs." "In the freezing winter, cramped at least means cosy." "You'll never guess what's in there." "There's... three bowls of porridge - one big one, on medium one and one tiny one." "I think I'm going to eat them." "'Time is running out for Hope to reach a safe denning weight." "BEARS GROWL" "'Lily clearly thinks this isn't the moment for fun and games." "BEARS GROWL" "'As a first-time mum, Lily hasn't always delivered." "'Now she's everything a mum should be." "'Even creating a small hollow in wet ground for clean water to seep in." "'A drink for Hope." "'Moments like this remind me 'how much we're still learning from these bears." "'But from tomorrow, it could all be blown away." "'Hunting season has begun." "'Lily and Hope have become so important to me," "'I've decided to help Lynn keep them safe.'" "I've just found out there are hunters in the area so I'm heading over to see Lynn and Sue to see if I can get more information." "They are right in here." "Right exactly there is where four bears have been shot so far, and that's where Lily and Hope are." "So actually in..." "God, they go there all the time!" "Yeah, I know it, yeah." "There is a law against shooting a research bear if a researcher is accompanying it..." "Yep." "..and you identify to the hunter that it is a research bear." "Yep." "'There aren't enough of us to protect all the collared bears." "'Lynn will walk with Juliet and her cubs." "'I'll be with Lily and Hope." "'That puts me in the firing line." "'Hundreds of people have been accidentally killed by hunters, 'so a bulletproof vest is a must.'" "Hey, bear!" "Oh, here we go." "Look." "Hey, Hope!" "Hope's up a tree right in front." "OK." "Lily...where is she?" "'Lily appears but immediately climbs a tree." "'She might be trying to identify scent from a long way off." "'There are many new smells to worry about.'" "It does make me really nervous, the fact that there are hunters in this area." "We think we've got a hunter's camp within a mile of here, and a hunter's camp is always going to be very close to where the hunter's going to try and shoot a bear." "Hey, Lily!" "Hey, girl!" "But today," "Lily has got bears rather than bear hunters on her mind." "Look at her scent-marking there!" "Right over the top of that." "I wonder if you could actually smell any of that." "Obviously it's designed for bears, not designed for me." "There is." "There is quite a beary smell on this branch." "Maybe I'm turning into a bear!" "I don't know why they're doing all this." "There's a lot more sniffing, clawing, scent-marking going on." "She'll probably do it again." "Look." "Look." "Scent-marking." "'Lily is leaving messages, which tell bears this area belongs to her.'" "UNDERGROWTH RUSTLES" "Come on." "You can go past." "On you go." "It's not human walking, it's bear walking." "'This is why they are such great study bears." "'I'm treated like part of the family 'and get to see things no-one else would.'" "She's probably smelling some other bear." "At some point in the past, another bear has probably done exactly that." "Just walked up here... ..rubbed its face." "Oh, gosh!" "Look at this!" "Ha!" "That wasn't Lily that did that." "Some other bear's rubbed its face on this tree and there's nothing that..." "SNIFFS" "I just smell tree, but for a bear, that's probably going to be one of the most overpowering things it can ever smell the smell of another bear." "'I realise Lily has caught up with the intruder.'" "Oh, look, just...ran off." "OK, it's a collared bear, you can see the hunter tags on it." "'I think it's Sarah again.'" "OK, let's see what happens." "'Sarah must be hungry if she's testing Lily for a second time.'" "Is she going to chase it away?" "BEAR GROWLS" "Did you see that?" "Ha!" "'Suddenly I hear what we've all been dreading.'" "Gunshots off there." "OK." "I think it must be target practice." "At least I hope it is." "It's a bit worrying to hear that." "It's just a little reminder that there are people in the woods with guns." "'Further along the trail, I find something really troubling.'" "What's that?" "Hang on, this all looks recent." "Look." "Hey, Lily." "OK." "Well, that's a hunter's jacket." "Erm..." "I wonder if she knows what that is." "Probably not." "'Hunters shoot bears from tree stands like this." "'The quicker Lily and Hope den, the happier I'll be.'" "Hey, Lily." "We're getting closer towards sunset." "Although I'm managing to keep up with her," "I'll have to turn back and find the road at some point," "I can't follow her all night." "The good thing is hunters can't shoot at night-time either." "Hey." "And the other thing that's happened is all this bear walking has taken a serious toll on my trousers." "Don't go too close on this." "If I went into town, I'd probably be arrested." "'Every morning, I worry for Lily and Hope." "'But today they are in the remotest and safest part of their home." "'It's a good time to find out 'whether they are any closer to denning." "'Lynn has told me how to do it." "'All I need is a stethoscope and a consenting bear.'" "I'm heading in to try and find Lily and Hope with the specific aim of trying to get their heart rates." "When they get close to the denning period, everything starts to slow down, and if I can get a heart rate reading from both of them, we'll maybe be able to tell how close they are to denning." "Hey, bear!" "Hey, Hope!" "This is going to be a laugh." "Welcome to my surgery." "We're going to put all these on the ground." "That's going to keep you really busy." "Get them out the way." "OK, just slip off your trousers and pop onto the couch." "In a nutshell, this is the agreement you have with these bears, a little bit of food for human company, and this is where we start crossing the line." "You're giving the animal some food, and then it's doing something you're not that comfortable with." "HOPE MOANS" "I think I'm going to give up on Hope." "OK, Lily." "If we can find out that these bears are close to denning, it means we can wipe the sweat from our brow a little bit, because it means if she's in a den, she's not going to get hunted." "Ah..." "She's too furry!" "There's a big, thick thatch of fur that you've got to get through." "This is something I thought was absolutely insane when I saw Lynn doing it for the first time, and here I am." "Well, I'm trying to do it." "OK." "I can confirm this bear is alive, but I can't tell you how close to denning it is." "'By mid-September, the pulse of the Northwoods is slowing down." "'Winter frosts have arrived 'and bears are beginning to go underground." "'First to go are the pregnant females." "'Their hearts have slowed by a quarter." "'Their last act is to collect warm bedding." "'When the cubs are born in January, they'll need this extra insulation." "'It's a relief to see bears making themselves safe from hunters." "'So far, we haven't lost a single study bear." "'Until now.'" "I got a call this morning soon as I got up from Sue saying that a radio collar from a bear had been shoved in through the letterbox at the Department of Natural Resources in town here, anonymously." "We don't know who the bear is, we don't know who shot the bear, we know nothing, so I'm following Lynn and Sue down just to hopefully find out what's gone on." "But it's not..." "A bear's been shot." "'What we do know is that hunters are still in the area 'where we last saw Lily and Hope." "'I'm not going to go in here with Lynn and Sue, 'they're going to go in, I'll wait outside." "It's Sarah." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "And they pulled all the ribbons off." "Where was she?" "He said he didn't know, and it was turned in anonymously over the weekend." "Sue, for you as a scientist, how much of a scientist do you feel today?" "LAUGHS" "I feel like crap." "It's so hard to understand the way they think." "Yeah, yeah." "What's the life expectancy for a bear without hunting?" "30, 20 or 30." "With hunting?" "Two, three, typical." "'The research bears tend to live much longer than other bears." "'Sarah was unlucky." "'Lynn's study is the only one 'in which individual bears can be tracked in such detail." "'He's known some of the bears here for decades." "'The loss of any of them must be a blow." "'In Minnesota, bear-hunting is a fact of life." "'But with 20,000 bears across the state," "'I'm amazed some guy has chosen to shoot a collared bear." "'I wonder whether a hunter would think differently 'if they could see what I've seen." "'Lynn wants to check Hope's progress, 'so today I'm keeping an eye on Juliet's family." "'Juliet's cubs are still hoovering up grubs 'and searching for other insects." "'But their mum is stripping alder." "'Bears begin eating these bitter leaves 'only when they are ready to den." "'We don't know why." "'I have learnt, over the year, that each bear has its own personality." "'Juliet is twitchier than most." "'She tolerates me, but only at arm's length.'" "OK." "They're eating ferns on the other side of the tree, but I just can't move close enough to see what's going on, so I'm going to have to risk spooking them, but here goes." "'If I cross the line, Juliet always lets me know.'" "That was a biggy." "(Maybe I'll just sit back down.)" "'Black bear charges are rarely anything but bluster." "'She was simply telling me to back off." "'Juliet's cubs are very different.'" "OK, I've got a bear." "I'll show you how close it is." "There you go." "Too close." "Too close, too close." "'The cubs are getting a bit too cheeky.'" "(Stop it!" ")" "'I've fallen in love with these bears." "'Every day feels as magical as the first time we met." "'These are my last moments with Juliet's family." "'They've crossed into the state park where hunting isn't allowed." "'They're going to be safe." "'Lily and Hope aren't out of the woods yet." "'Every day I cross my fingers that Lily is ready to go underground.'" "Hey, Lily!" "Where is she?" "'Hope is certainly looking sturdier.'" "Hey, Hope." "Hey, Lily!" "I really want to see if she's got any mud on her nose, anything that indicates that she might have started denning... round about here, maybe it's a good place." "It's not a million miles away from where she denned last year, and where Hope was born." "Oh, look, she's got mud on her neck there!" "'Lily has been digging for real." "'Maybe she senses Hope is fat enough to last the winter.'" "The way I feel now is really just relief, relief that both these bears have made it to this stage." "Lily's going to be denned within the next couple of days, she'll be in hibernation, and with her will be Hope." "So for this year, both these bears are safe." "'It's been a dramatic year for Lily, Hope, and for me." "'The trust these bears have shown has allowed us to film a world no-one has seen before." "'We agonised when Hope was abandoned." "'And made the difficult decision to intervene to save her life." "'We watched as she struggled on her own." "'And we were relieved and delighted 'when she and Lily found each other again.'" "Hope, that's not you, is it?" "!" "Hello, Hope!" "'They and their relatives are teaching us more about bears 'than we ever dreamed possible." "'In a month, the first snow will fall." "'All the bears will be in their dens and my time here will be over.'" "As I look around the forest, there's so many changes that have taken place over the year, changes with the bears, changes with the forest itself." "And I think the biggest change has been in me." "When I think back to how I felt about these animals, and about Lily in particular, I was terrified of this bear." "And now all of that fear has gone." "I know for one," "I'll never think about these animals in the same way again." "'More than this, I really hope I've done something 'to persuade other people 'bears aren't the monsters we assume them to be.'" "These are the last moments that I have with the bears, and I do feel sad, but I feel less sad when I think to the future, because, hopefully, long after I'm gone and the bears that I've got to know are gone," "so long as people care enough about bears, so long as people are prepared to trust them, and so long as bears are prepared to trust us, there's a huge amount still to learn from them."