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| True Grizz: Glimpses of Fernie, Stahr, Easy, Dakota, and Other Real Bears in the Modern World (Sierra Club Books Publication) | 
| Author: Douglas H. Chadwick
Publisher: Sierra Club Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $2.56
You Save: $22.39 (90%)
New (7) from $2.56
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 1394148
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 176
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9
ISBN: 1578051002
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.78409786
EAN: 9781578051007
ASIN: 1578051002
Publication Date: September 2, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: NEW!!! No markings/Pages clean//Standard shipping (USPS Media Mail) maybe SLOW (7-21+ days) --- IF you need FAST DELIVERY -- SELECT EXPEDITED SHIPPING (2-3 days except on weekends and holidays 3-5 days)
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
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 True Grizz, 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
Real bears, real people December 8, 2006
The core of this book is a series of stories about "teaching" grizzlies in northwestern Montana to avoid point. Chadwick, a wildlife biologist by training and now a journalist, rides shotgun with a pair of people and a team of Karelian bear dogs that engage in aversive conditioning, intended to make grizzlies associate human settlements with bad noises, rubber bullets, aggressive dogs, and other nuisances. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't. It's easier in years with abundant berry crops before the bears hibernate, and it's harder in droughts.
Wrapped around this core narrative are various side stories about Chadwick and grizzlies. He had some imaginary encounters as a child, and some more serious encounters as an adult. These anecdotes are sometimes amusing, and at other times serve to explore his central theme.
What is that theme? That grizzlies are smart animals and that, like a few other smart animals, they have personalities. Individual grizzlies are, well, individuals. They grow up in a variety of home environments, have different socialization experiences, and are born with different personalities. As a biologist, Chadwick knows very well that you aren't "supposed" to anthropomorphize animals, but to him it seems silly not to recognize these obvious differences among animals.
Chadwick hits exactly the right notes on this theme. Since grizzlies are individuals, there's nothing wrong with giving them names - - and, as he notes, naming bears makes it easier to convince humans to behave better around them. At the same time, they're animals, and they're wild - - unlike (say) Timothy Treadwell, he doesn't pretend that they're humans, or that humans are bears. He maintains, much more sensibly, that grizzly behavior varies not only from one context to another, but from one animal to another.
The same is true of humans, of course. Chadwick tells the stories of many people who interact with bears, mostly by accidentally leaving food out where grizzlies can find it. Dog food on the porch, a deer hanging in a shed with the door ajar, bird feeders, and other such things can attract grizzlies. Some people like seeing grizzlies, some are terrified, others don't much care. The anti-grizzly community tends to be the loudest, but as someone who has lived in Montana for decades Chadwick argues persuasively that most people have a generally benign view of the bears. But people, like grizzlies, are individuals.
In fact, while this *looks like* a book about bears, it's really more about human interactions with bears. In contrast to the Timothy Treadwell mystical bears, or the Bear Attacks! ferocious bears, Chadwick tells a story of ordinary bears sharing a region with ordinary people.
If you're interested in wildlife or human interactions with wildlife, this book is well worth reading. It's mostly a collection of pleasant anecdotes with a handful of meditations on bears and humans thrown in. A good read.
Good surface read on real bears September 19, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Chadwick presents the ursus horriblius (Grizzly Bear) in the closest account true to its real existance. This is not a book of sensational attacks and mystique, or of tree hugging enviro freaks. It is an easy read of the everyday experience of the bear managers of the Flathead in Montana.
The only drawback is Chadwick's over zealous use of personification of bears. The names are used in management only as the equivelent of numbers, but Chadwick takes it rather far in depicting what he calls "bearalities".
Bottom Line... A must read for anyone interested in the "real" real bears.
tim
 A nice change from all the bear attack books out today! September 18, 2004
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I truly enjoyed this book, not just because it shows bears in a better and more realistic light than many other books which focus only on bear attacks, but also because of how eloquently it is written. Doug Chadwick obviously has a passion for the wilderness and bears, and in this book he presents not only the benefits of wilderness but also unflinchingly discusses both problems and some solutions for allowing grizzlies enough space to live. Reading this book, I felt like I was sitting in the author's living room while he chatted with me about bear/human conflicts and many of the experiences he has had. You find yourself wiser and more informed without feeling like someone just lectured to you! This book is important as more and more people move into previously wild areas of the west!
 Good Book, Not Must Have March 25, 2004
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
We seem to be increasing our volumes of "bear journalism" at a rapid pace but I'm not sure we ever needed to go beyond Peacock's "Grizzly Years." I find the author and his cohorts well-intentioned, but do we really need to know everything there is to know about the grizzly? Do we need to radio-collar them and track them and tag them and pursue them and give them cutesy, anthropomorphic names? Why can't we just accept their mystical and awesome presence and perhaps spend a bit less time and energy destroying their habitat?
true grizz December 2, 2003
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Overall, a good book. Chronicles the day-to-day happenings of a team of biologists that scare/chase bears away from the homes of individuals residing near the Whitefish Mountain Range in Montana. A little bit too much on the politics though!
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