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Why are we safe alongside the grizzlies of the Khutzeymateen, while elsewhere, we are warned to steer clear or risk being mauled?

It all comes down to fear — or lack thereof — according to Alberta-based naturalist Charlie Russell.

In most places, grizzlies fear people because so much of their experience with humans is threatening: we hunt them; we fire tranquilizer darts at them; we make a noisy clatter when we hike in grizzly country; and we pepper-spray them if we stumble into a face-to-face encounter.

Consequently, a grizzly’s typical reaction to us is either flight or fight. If it sees or smells us at a distance, it is likely to ramble off. A grizzly seldom looks for trouble, and its intimidating size deters other animals from attacking it. But if surprised at close range, a grizzly can ferociously defend itself, its cubs and its territory.

Problems also arise when bears become so habituated to the presence of people — our food or garbage, specifically — that theylose their fear of us and boldly go where they shouldn’t. These are the "problem" bears, and they usually meet an ignominious end.

Bears having infrequent or benign encounters with humans, such as the grizzlies in the Khutzeymateen or comparably remote places, still have a healthy fear of us. But if we are deliberately careful not to pose a threat, they will permit us to interact with them.

Russell knows a thing or two about living peacefully with grizzlies. He and his wife, filmmaker Maureen Enns, have spent a good part of the past five years walking among and observing the grizzlies outside their cabin in the remote Kamchatka Peninsula of eastern Russia, one of the world’s densest grizzly habitats. They are, arguably, risking their lives to see whether grizzlies and humans can coexist. Why? "To change the way people think about bears," Russell says. "We want to look at the side science hasn’t looked at. We want to explore bears as feeling creatures and see, under ideal conditions, what’s possible."

Eric Harris

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