The Bear Family & Me. (1 Viewer)

[Gill Osborne]

One of my favourite wildlife cameramen, Gordon Buchanan, follows a family of wild black bears for a year.

This fabulous three-part series follows wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan as he spends a year living alongside a family of wild black bears in the forests of Minnesota. Though black bears are notoriously aggresive, they are also widely misunderstood, and Buchanan wants to set the record straight by filming them more closely than ever before.
This first episode sees Buchanan arriving at his new home just as the bears are emerging from hibernation. But as he sets about winning the bears' trust, he finds himself faced with a decision every wildlife cameraman must dread - whether to intervene and save a cub's life, or let nature take it's course.

I'm really looking forward to this series as my husband is just crazy about bears and I've always promised him a holiday sometime to see genuine wild bears. Gordon was being interviewed on Radio Newcastle earlier today and the programme sounds amazing.....and he sets a few few myths about bears straight too....I learnt a couple of new things in just that short interview so really looking forward to having my eyes opened to these creatures. :king:

Monday, 3rd January: BBC2 9pm

 

[AnotherNightOwl]

I'm looking forward to watching this later on tonight. I will be recording it on my PVR aswell.

 

[AnotherNightOwl]

What a great program. It was lovely to see Hope and Lily together again at the end.
Roll on tomorrow and part two.

 

[The sniper]

lets hope tomorrow nights ending is just as satisfying as tonights.I had tears in my eyes when they were reunited and the mother accepted her back.

 

[turkish van]

Had me in tears twice!!

 

[JTweedie]

I really enjoyed it. It was great to see Lynn Rogers again, his Natural World programme was fantastic.

I wouldn't have liked to be in Buchanan's position when he was warned by Lily to back-off from Hope.

 

[AnotherNightOwl]

Enjoyed this again.

The change from a very nervous and cautious Gordon Buchanan into totally relaxed and comfortable guy around the bears in this episode ... great viewing.

Hope is adorable,determined and smart. I look forward to tomorrow and wish for a happy ending.

 

[JTweedie]

Yes it was very good. I was glad they brought up the possibility (or not as the case turned out to be) of the bears becoming used to being around people as that was something that was going through my mind while watching the programme.

 

[Peewit]

Enjoyed this again.

The change from a very nervous and cautious Gordon Buchanan into totally relaxed and comfortable guy around the bears in this episode ... great viewing.

Hope is adorable,determined and smart. I look forward to tomorrow and wish for a happy ending.

Yes, I agree Gordon was a lot more relaxed on this programme. It was good for his family to met the bears too - all children would be fasinated at a live Bear

I felt so much for Hope having being rejected by her mum. Nature can be so cruel but what a survivor that Hope has turned into - a little fighter :-O

It will be interesting to see what the radio collar on Hopes neck produces on the next programme

I think tomorrows programme will be a little more disturbing as it is Bear hunting season. The human gun slingers are out to play once more. :C

We shall see how it all ends ... and let it be a happy ending, pleaaaseeee..... :t:

Regards
Kathy
x

 

[mauricek]

Gill's enthusiasm in anticipation of the bears before showing was well justified.In the 1950's I was rated one of the best dog trainers in the country traiing all breeds at the request of Bradford Police.I could feel his initial fear and go along with the older man's confidence and his body language that only comes with experience.
For me it was/is one of the best shows I've ever seen especilly as I could empathise with both man and beast.

maurice. HERE BEAR. ENCHORE.

 

[Mary]

We watched the first part last evening (recorded) and I was on the edge of my seat, terrified for him! Had to keep telling myself there had been nothing in the news about him being injured, and he was on AutumnWatch not long ago! Much as I love wildlife, I couldn't do anything like that!

 

[Mary]

Just remembered, you can watch Lily in her den now at http://www.bear.org/livecams/lily-hope-cam.html

 

[ta brandreth]

sorry to throw a spanner in the works but I couldn't believe how bad this programme was - I usually enjoy Gordons work but this was poor.

the couple who where 'researching' the bears did so by feeding them and enticing them into camera reach - hardly natural behaviour to observe and to commit the big unwritten rulebreaker of feeding the abandoned cub - if its abandoned it dies - end of story,thats nature - it happens.

the other issue I had was the footage where Gordon worried about the bear family crossing the road - why? thats where they chose to live,they are a social,thinking mammal and have chosen that habitat for the choices it gives and to exploit a food source - they probably cross that road successfully 15/20 times a day.

a real missed opportunity, in my opinion, and a poorly constructed programme.

 

[hampers]

Bears

What an enjoyable series of programs, I have enjoyed it enormously.

Phil

 

[Rhummy]

How can he justify feeding bears - he is just encouraging bears to approach humans. Just takes one to get a little too close to a kid and there would be an uproar!

It really infuriates me - I usually like GB but not this time.

 

[naturistbird]

lovely...lovely...lovely...lovely programme..

 

[mauricek]

We seem to have a few critics who object to bears being fed and let nature take it's course.I assume they feed the birds though. Nuff saiD???.I could go on and on.
maurice...just wondered

 

[Peewit]

The 3rd part

Wow, it was not what I expected it to be.

The issues relating Lily getting back with Hope out of sight from Gordon. Hope had not given up at all and she must have persuaded her mum to look after her. This is one thing we may never find out about at all! :t:

The hunters in the programme displaying all 'shot' animals with their heads stuck on the walls in their houses. It is very distasteful IMHO :-C

Last time I ever saw any 'trophies' on the wall was when I visited South Africa in 1991 to visit my family. My mothers brother has various trophies on his wall - including one male lion he shot himself. He then preceded in telling me the whole story about the killing of the animals which he said he found near his home in the open land or bush as it is called in SA. I found the story a bit distasteful, but to him it was a normal occurrence in life - shows how differing views apply in the wildlife world. :C

He did not know I was working in a conservation group in Scotland at that time, and I was doing a lot to help wildlife, and not destroy it. So we where worlds apart. My mother 2 sisters where not that way inclined only the menfolk seemed to want to hunt for whatever reason, Never got the opportunity to ask them why they wanted to shot any animal at all - I would now though! o

I loved the way Gordon asked one of the hunters to see the Bears for himself and he learned such a lot from the experience. I really hope that he has had a change of heart now and hunting is off his agenda now - and he tells his hunting friends of his experience with the bears. :t:

It was sad to see that one of the female collared Bears had come to a sticky end. What a sad thing to do and whoever shot the bear did it with no heart and no feelings at all - just bang bang with the gun!!! :-C

I really hope that Gordon will visit once more and we get another programme on the progress of the bears once more - or even meet Lily and Hope once more in the future sometime. :t:

You could see Gordon starting to well up with tears as he said 'this was the last time I was going to see the bears' - it was heart wrenching and a lump in the throat was there for all to see. :gh:

Really enjoyed the 3 hours of this beautifully constructed film of human and animals relating to one another - who could wish for more. :t:

Well done Gordon - great show!! :t:

Regards
Kathy
x

 

[Rhummy]

Maurice - I presume no ones ever been hurt by a chaffinch attack!

 

[Farnboro John]

sorry to throw a spanner in the works but I couldn't believe how bad this programme was - I usually enjoy Gordons work but this was poor.

the couple who where 'researching' the bears did so by feeding them and enticing them into camera reach - hardly natural behaviour to observe and to commit the big unwritten rulebreaker of feeding the abandoned cub - if its abandoned it dies - end of story,thats nature - it happens.

the other issue I had was the footage where Gordon worried about the bear family crossing the road - why? thats where they chose to live,they are a social,thinking mammal and have chosen that habitat for the choices it gives and to exploit a food source - they probably cross that road successfully 15/20 times a day.

a real missed opportunity, in my opinion, and a poorly constructed programme.

There were some good arguments put up for the researchers' bear feeding (which was not sufficient to buld a dependency) and the insights gained into bear behaviour and lifecycle as a result justify the means (IMHO) in a limited set of circumstances. I doubt Lynn Rogers himself would think it an essential part of all bear research.

As for the bear family crossing the road, I am forced to assume you have never undertaken any long-term involvement with a particular group of animals (even at your bird-feeders?) I can go out for a day's birding and enjoy watching animals doing their thing, including catching and eating each other, as I am not involved with them. However, on my local patch where I have, for instance, been photographing at a particular Badger sett for several years, it matters very much to me that all is well with the group and I was pretty upset the other summer when I found one of "my" Badgers had been killed by a car while he was crossing the road.

Likewise I have found increasing involvement and familiarity with my local foxes as recognisable individuals rather than just fleeting random encounters (also prompted by photography) has increased my concern for their welfare as individuals and interest in their doings and successes. Nearing home I drive slower and watch out more keenly, for instance.

The ability to recognise individuals has a strong tendency in name-orientated humans to lead to use of names for them, if only as a shorthand for notebooks. I have succumbed as easily as Farley Mowat related he did in Never Cry Wolf, so that my notebook is sprouting references to Junior, Black-tail and (unforgivably!) Mister Grizzle.

If you are completely cut off from understanding of this very human capacity for involvement, you are probably well down the road to being a twitcher.

John