Spirit Bear: Encounters with the White Bear of the Western Rainforest

Patrick Colgan is associate director of programs at the Canadian Museum
of Nature.

This is a success story of how—as the personal columns might put
it—man seeks intimate relationship with bear. The man is Charles
Russell, outdoorsman and photographer; the bear is a kermode (named
after a former director of the Royal British Columbia Museum), a
genetically white form of the black bear found on the Princess Royal
Island east of the Queen Charlottes.

The book opens with an account of family life in the Rockies that
included extensive contact with bears (some of it astounding) and other
creatures. The bulk of the book records a series of visits to the island
in which Russell and his colleagues set up camp, enjoy the lush splendor
of the habitat (including such other animals as otters, ravens, and
killer whales), and indeed become acquainted with individual members of
a bear population innocent of hunters and garbage dumps. Information on
the geology and biology of the region and the habits of the bears is
woven into the text. The rewards and risks of the amazingly close
contact achieved (including curiosity and play) are prominent, as is the
immense satisfaction of the author, whether relaxing with the bears, or
exploring the island by ultralight aircraft.

Russell’s interactions with the kermodes over the past two decades
(which echo of Eden) are rendered all the more poignant by their
fragility in the face of human destruction. It is our longing for this
Garden, as we move further from it that moves the reader. In this
regard, the book appropriately closes with a discussion of the threat of
habitat destruction by logging and possibilities for conservation. The
text is greatly enhanced by superb photographs plus an index. Already
the subject of Native legend (as the title indicates), the kermode
receives empathic promotion in this sensitive book.