Grizzly Confidential

Grizzly Confidential

by Kevin Grange
Setting: Wyoming, Alaska
Genres: Nature / Animals / Bears
Length: 9:09
Narrator: Timothy Pabon
Published on September 17, 2024
Pages: 288
Format: Audiobook Source: Library
Amazon

In Grizzly Confidential, author Kevin Grange—former paramedic and park ranger at Yellowstone and Grand Teton—comes face-to-face with North America’s most fearsome predator, Ursus arctos.

His quest takes him from his home in the Tetons to an eerie, mist-shrouded island of gigantic bruins; from the Bear Center at Washington State University—where scientists believe the secrets of hibernation might help treat diabetes, heart disease, and obesity in humans—to the dark underbelly of for-profit wildlife parks, illegal animal trade and black markets hawking bear bile.

Along the way, he meets fascinating biologists and activists and discovers that everything he knew about grizzlies was wrong. Ultimately, his odyssey leads him to find answers on a remote corner of the Alaskan Peninsula where, for the last fifty years, humans have coexisted peacefully alongside the largest gathering of brown bears on the planet.

Grizzly Confidential is about bears but also the inspiring people who look after them. This is a fast-paced, gripping story that educates, entertains, and gives a sneak peek into the secret life of a well-known species. Part science, part travelogue, and a passionate plea for bear conservation, Grizzly Confidential is a lively account for anyone who loves the outdoors and learning about the natural world.

Kevin Grange has always been afraid of bears. He lives in Wyoming in the heart of bear country but was always able to keep them at a distance. Even when he worked in national parks, he directed people away from bears. So when bears started getting more common in his town, he panicked. This book is the result.

He decided to learn how humans are supposed to coexist with bears.  He took courses on bear safety for hikers and talked to survivors of bear attacks. He talked to keepers at wild animal parks and zoos that house bears. He observed research studies. He attended conferences with experts from around the world. He also traveled to Alaska to visit remote communities where bears are a daily part of life. He even camped with hunting guides in order to track bears for days on end to observe their behavior. (No bears were killed during his time with them.)

By the end he was comfortable enough to be able to stay at places with the highest concentrations of bears on the planet.  He could walk with rangers as a group on trails beside wild bears safely because he could understand their body language and know how to be understandable to them. He learned how to live in order to decrease conflict between bears and humans and how to make that a win-win for everyone. 

A sad postscript to this story:

The one of the bears that initially freaked him out was called 399.  She was an old bear who had raised many cubs near the roads around Grand Teton National Park.  The year that she really came to his attention, she decided to take her cubs and do a walkabout through Jackson Hole for a while.  The book talks a lot about her and her interactions with the public.  She had developed quite a fan base over the years.  Here she is in her first sighting of 2022. 

A few weeks after I finished listening to this book, on October 22, 2024, 399 was hit and killed by a car.  It caused an outpouring of grief in the community.  She was cremated and her ashes returned to the park. Maybe that will be her legacy. By raising her cubs in plain sight she proved that humans can want to learn to coexist with bears.