Bear 71.

The first six months after I got the radio collar, I was chased away by rangers twelve times. They call it “aversive conditioning.” I call it rubber bullets.

What I really want you to understand is this: I was a good bear. I didn’t knock over anyone’s garbage cans. I didn’t break into anyone’s mobile home. I raised three sets of cubs eating berries and hunting invisible elk in a valley that smells like hash browns.

A human being can’t smell a baby elk, because a baby elk has hardly any smell at all. That’s how they protect themselves. But I can smell them. A grizzly bear can smell a baby elk about as well as you can hear a pin drop.

The first rule of survival is, don’t do what comes naturally. Of course it’s not going to be easy.

Documentary Film Bear 71 Tags and Tracks Viewers

Bear 71 is a unique and powerful way of telling the story of a bear under the influence of human technology, using that same technology as the medium. By adding viewers as markers on the map alongside the video feeds from animals and fellow visitors to the site, Bear 71 allows its audience to watch surveillance of fellow participants while at the same time being subject to surveillance. The pervasiveness of observation throughout the story helps to bring the viewer deeper into the story, nurturing a deeper sympathy and connection with the wild’s wired animals.

Read more.

Bear 71