Charlie's Goals for 2001

I will continue to develop my relationship of exceptional trust with Chico, Biscuit and Brandy and her new family along with the many other bears in the area. My goal is to continue to work out what is appropriate and safe for average human behavior around these animals by pushing limits of trust to an extreme myself. Note: my behavior with our study animals is not meant to be duplicated but rather is a very personal examination of what is possible under controlled circumstances.

There is no question that bears can be dangerous to people, but we have found that if treated kindly they are very predictably safe and wonderful to be around. For practical reasons my strategy is not to experiment with what makes bears dangerous, but rather to try to understand if even closer relationships are sustainable indefinitely, without conflict.

I am gearing up for the big launch. For three years, I have worked on a my book Grizzly Heart: Living Without Fear Among the Brown Bears of Kamchatka. Random House is planing to publish it sometime before May 2002, in several languages. The book is partly in Maureen’s voice and a lot of the credit for it being a good read is due to the help we both got from my editor Fred Stenson. My goal for our bears is to have their story widely read because I am convinced their species will gain from man accepting living closer to them. When it hits the book stands, we will hit the road on an international promotional tour.

-Charlie