True Grizz

On the outskirts of a Montana town, a female grizzly and her cubs catch the scent of a bag of dog food left out on a porch. It has been a poor autumn for berries in the backcountry, and the temptation to snatch an easy meal from human territory is strong. If the bears succeed often enough, they will be more likely to go into their winter den with the fat reserves needed for survival. But with each such raid, the bears' chances of getting caught or killed increase dramatically. In author Douglas Chadwick joins a crew of dedicated wildlife managers working to educate grizzlies about where they should and shouldn't go in the populated areas of northwestern Montana. With "schooling" methods that range from shooting the bears with rubber bullets to charging at them with teams of specially trained Karelian dogs, these people are doing everything they can to save a threatened species. This challenge grows increasingly difficult as human development encroaches upon the bears' habitat, leaving grizz little choice but to share landscapes with us. Breaking with the tradition of tales that depict bears as either ferocious monsters or icons of pure wilderness, Chadwick gives us a refreshingly clear-eyed view of individual grizzlies and their complex personalities. As he chronicles the lives of Fernie, Stahr, Easy, Dakota, and other "problem" bears--and shares his personal insights about free-roaming grizzlies gained through close observation for more than three decades--Chadwick offers a realistic yet poignant picture of grizz as big, strong, bright, adaptable omnivores trying to get by in the modern world any way they can.