Summer The Bear Family and Me

American black bears have a fearsome reputation.

-BEAR GROWLS

-Oh, aye, aye! Steady, steady!

But they also inspired the original cuddly toy.

It looks as if someone's stuck a toy teddy up the tree.

'I'm Gordon Buchanan.'

I'm a wildlife cameraman and I'm trying to find out

what black bears are really like.

To film them this close, I've had to face my own fears.

BEAR GRUNTS

'But it's allowed me to see bears in a totally new way.'

Oh, wow, look at that!

As spring turns to summer,

they draw me even deeper into their lives.

On this visit, I end up helping to keep a tiny,

starving bear cub alive.

CUB MOANS FEEBLY

Minnesota, in the northeast of the US, contains a vast and beautiful wilderness.

This is bear country.

'Getting close to wild bears in thick forest sounds like a crazy thing to do.'

Hey, bear.

LYNN: It's me, bear.

But three months ago, with the help of bear biologist Lynn Rogers,

I started to gain the trust

of a young female, Lily, and her only cub, Hope.

Now I'm going to take her heart rate.

-It's a lot easier with a stethoscope.

-This is surreal.

I discovered just how accepting these bears could be.

I've become entranced by Hope

and amazed how Lily's let me film intimate details of family life.

Oh, that is nice. That is super-nice.

Are you gonna give me a kiss?

What am I doing? I've just asked a wild bear for a kiss.

But since I was last here, their lives have fallen apart.

Hope became separated from Lily.

All alone, this baby bear was slowly starving to death.

It's OK.

HOPE SCREAMS

Moved by her plight, Lynn did something

most biologists would never do -

he stepped in to reunite mother and cub.

Their togetherness was short-lived.

They became separated again,

then suddenly, Lily seemed to lose all interest in her little daughter.

Tiny Hope, just six months old,

is once again alone in this huge forest.

Now I'm back in Minnesota, I'm wondering

what on earth will happen next.

'Lynn's had glimpses of Hope in the woods,

'but she's vulnerable to starvation and predators.'

Every day could be her last.

The last bears that I saw before I left were Lily and Hope

and they were a picture of a bonded unit.

Here was a mother that had spent six months with this cub,

invested so much time and her own resources in looking after this cub,

and while I've been away, she's abandoned her, you know,

something that I would never have predicted would have happened,

that she would just one day walk away from her cub.

She'll have her own reasons for doing that,

and it will be interesting to speak to Lynn and to Sue

and to find out what they think, why has this happened?

Hi, honey, I'm home!

-Hey, Gordon, hey!

-Hey, how are you? How's it going?

'Dr Lynn Rogers and his assistant Sue Mansfield

'have been at the sharp end while I've been away.'

-Hello.

-Welcome back.

For both of you it must have been a stressful time.

Yeah, it... I mean, sleepless nights.

An emotional roller coaster.

What do we do? Decisions, emotions.

I suppose you do get mothers that abandon cubs,

so it's one of these things that happens and nobody really knows why.

What's your theory on why Lily abandoned her?

Well, it's... We just don't know.

The reason is, in the past, we've seen mothers lose cubs.

Could have been that they abandoned them. We don't know.

'We want to find out why Lily turned her back on Hope,

'but Lynn also wants to learn

'what happens to these abandoned cubs.

'To do that, we're going to have to find Hope.

'All the adult bears Lynn studies wear tracking collars,

'which send signals to our computers.

'It helps us locate them in the vast forest.

'But Hope's not wearing a collar,

'so I have to use surveillance cameras if I'm to find out what's become of her.'

Hmm. This is the last place where I actually saw Hope, on this tree.

That's really weird.

Hmm, doesn't feel that long ago, but a lot's happened since then.

Hope was here, Lily was here.

'Fortunately for me, bears stick to their territories.

'My best chance to find Hope is to set camera traps up

'in her mother's patch of forest.

'While I try and find baby Hope, Lynn looks for Lily.'

It's me, bear.

Lynn's studied black bears for over 40 years,

but he's not your average bear biologist.

Lily is coming.

It's me, bear. It's me.

No other bear researchers can get this close.

By offering wild bears a little bit of food, Lynn reassures them.

These bears then allow him into their personal space.

OK, there. There you go.

OK.

What I wish you would tell me is, why did you leave Hope?

Hmm? Why did you do that?

It made you look pretty bad, you know.

You're making bears look bad.

While we're sitting here, we'll just... Stay, stay where you are.

Come on, bear. Where are you going?

There must be a good reason for Lily's unmotherly behaviour,

but even Lynn finds it puzzling.

She's off on a mission.

I've used remote cameras to find everything

from birds of paradise to tigers, but never a missing bear cub.

A nice big tree here.

I'm just looking for some evidence that a bear has spent time here.

There's nothing on the ground.

It's a good one. You can imagine a bear in it.

Oh, look here. Some scratch marks there, tiny little scratch marks.

This could be a clue Hope's still here in her mother's territory.

I'm going to put one here. It's a good starter.

Black bear cubs climb trees to stay out of harm's way.

Pine trees are best - their rough bark makes them easier to race up

and away from predators.

If she's going to climb this tree, she might have a mooch around.

The scratch marks are on this side,

so maybe this is the side that she would climb it.

I think we just try and blitz this area and hope for the best.

It will be quite interesting, also,

just to see what other animals are in this forest.

Without Lily to protect her,

Hope will probably be sticking close to trees like this.

It's just a little extra enticement, if she's in this area,

to come to the bottom of this tree.

And also, it would hold her in this area.

This takes maybe two seconds to fire up and power up and get up to speed,

so if she's here, starts climbing,

the camera might be too late, so the grapes might hold her long enough.

Sue joins me to place the last camera.

It's me, bear.

'We know it is possible for bear cubs to survive on their own,

'but not one quite as young as Hope.

'We're giving her an extra boost,

'just until she's old enough to fend for herself.'

This is the formula milk for Hope.

If we put a little bit in now, when she comes back,

it's enough to keep her attention here and then just settle down

and give her something to eat as soon as she arrives.

'To intervene in this way is controversial,

'but Lynn and Sue think we might learn something new from Hope.'

It's me, bear.

It's me, cubby.

It's me, bear.

'I'm not quite sure if this is the right thing to do...'

It's me, cubby.

'...but waiting to see if Hope comes, I realise something.

'What began as a filming project has become something much more.

'Usually, I keep a distance from animals,

'but I've followed Hope so closely for so long, I really care what happens to her.'

Gordon, I think we should just reset the trail cameras and leave.

I just don't think she's anywhere around.

Yeah.

STATIC AND BEEPING

Lynn's caught up with Lily again.

She's searching for something, but it's not her daughter.

Don't be like this!

Right here. Come on.

Here, grapes.

Look, she doesn't care. She's on the trail of a bear,

probably a male, probably coming into heat.

And she paid no attention, no interest in the grapes I brought.

I showed her the bag, didn't care.

She wants that bear.

It's time to mate.

Bears with young cubs don't usually go into heat.

For some reason, Lily's drive to mate

has overpowered her instincts to mother.

A month ago, this bear was taking care of little Hope

and the only thing she cared about was keeping that cub safe.

Something came over her, I don't know what it is,

something to do with maybe being a young mother, whatever.

She ditched Hope, she's after a male.

Don't completely understand it,

but that's why we do research.

Juliet, Lily's aunt, lives close by.

She's another bear I've got to know really well this year.

Her three cubs are the same age as Hope.

Maybe catching up with this family will throw light

on why Lily's lost interest in her own cub.

Hey, bear.

'Though I've been away since spring,

'the bears still remember the sound of my voice.'

Hey, bear.

It's me, bear. I can see! Hey, girl.

Hey, Juliet.

Hey, girl.

This is all part of Lynn's unconventional technique,

which is by giving a bear a few hand-outs,

they'll let you, well, touch them so you can put a collar on them,

and follow them and just observe their natural behaviour.

To be honest, I was really dubious about it at the beginning,

but now I see it,

I really see it is quite incredible what Lynn has been able to do.

You are my favourite bear, Juliet.

Definitely my favourite.

And it's because she loves me back.

That's right, Juliet, isn't it?

That's the end of the programme, so there you go, that's OK.

-SHE GRUNTS

-It's OK.

See, we're not friends.

She has no feelings for me or anyone else whatsoever.

Once a hand-out is finished, that's it.

The deal's over.

Off she goes.

Hey, cub.

Juliet may not have any feelings for me,

but a deal brokered with a greeting of nuts

means she'll now let me get close to her and her family.

She's settled down, ready to feed her cubs.

Juliet is an experienced mother.

This is her third litter.

It's normal to have two or three cubs.

The cubs' overwhelming demand for milk

ensures Juliet's urge to care for her young remains strong.

Lynn thinks producing milk for just one cub, like Hope,

may not have been enough to sustain Lily's mothering hormones,

which could be why the urge to mate kicked in instead.

It's just amazing to be this close to these bears.

It's quite easy to forget what an amazing experience this is.

One must always remind oneself that they are big, wild animals.

It's part of bear communication.

She's just saying, "Hey, you're invading my space."

She does it by charging at me, but I got the message.

As well as providing milk and protection,

Juliet's there to show her cubs how to find food.

There's a short period each year when newborn deer fawns

are unsteady on their feet.

Black bears will turn predatory if an easy meal presents itself.

This is an enormous protein hit,

a change from the usual diet of shoots, berries and bugs.

Hope has no mum to show her what to eat and where to find it.

I'm really keen to see if my camera traps

can reveal anything about how she's getting on.

What have you got for me?

Maybe nothing.

You get negativity and positivity in equal measures doing this.

I've done too much of it to get carried away and get overexcited.

A very unflattering shot of my face.

Gosh, OK.

No bears. These are all night-time images, no bears.

A chipmunk.

There's a lot of them about.

Och, come on!

If I was in the business of looking for mice or looking for chipmunks,

I'd be very happy at the moment, but I'm looking for Hope.

She's not in any of these.

That's rubbish, just rubbish.

'In the absence of hard evidence, we turn our attention to softer stuff.

'Bear poo, or scat, tells us what they've been eating.'

Lynn...is that baby bear scat?

-Oh.

-It's quite fresh.

Boy! From the size of it,

I bet it really is Hope. Yeah.

Hope's scat reveals she's way cannier than we thought.

I think the most amazing thing that Hope might be eating

are the remains of crayfish.

I'm trying to think how she'd... Oh, there's a big one there!

LYNN GASPS

Do you reckon she's just seeing them in the water and then...

grabbing them?

There's one there. Do you think I can catch it?

I know how to catch them. You come at them from behind.

Yeah? OK, I'm going to try that.

All right, watch this, fast as lightning.

Oh, yeah, I've got one.

-Oh, cool!

-There we go.

-A baby one.

-Yeah.

I suppose a kind of protein-packed meal.

-I'm just amazed she could catch one.

-Yeah.

This is great news. Hope seems to be working things out for herself.

As evening approaches,

a couple of huge male bears show up at Lynn's research cabin.

CAR APPROACHES

'I've never seen a male bear before and this might be my only chance.'

-Gee-whiz, look at this!

-Holy moly!

He is a big animal.

Lynn can only study the male bears

by luring them towards his cabin with food.

It's impossible to radio-collar them.

Males have thick necks, much wider than their heads,

and a collar would soon slip off.

Good lad.

I kind of didn't want to have glass between me and the bears,

but at this moment in time, I'm quite glad that there's glass!

Gosh! What a handsome chap.

Do you know I'm here?

It's curious to think one of these guys could be the male that turned Lily's head.

Lily's been off looking for a male,

but could it be that this young guy could be hanging out with her?

It is possible.

He did show up on the scene here this year just about the time

that Lily left Hope the first time.

You're kind of speaking as if you are a mother

and not approving of who her daughter's hanging out with!

Yes, I don't know about this new guy in town.

He may be tall, dark and handsome, but I don't know,

he hasn't got my approval yet!

Hey, bear. Let me come out.

Let me come out and say hi.

Don't worry, you're OK.

He's a little bit nervous about touching.

Not much, though. I thought he would run a mile, Lynn.

I'm coming out. Lynn, I'm coming out.

It just seems like the last thing that I should do is, we've got male bears coming,

and I'm climbing out the window to be with them.

Does it look like a silly thing to do?

Good lad.

Lynn's only way of keeping tabs on the male bears is to record

when they show up in the area, and to tempt them onto the giant weigh scale.

-He's enormous!

-Around 450.

He's all yours.

-OK, big chap.

-The big brute.

OK, OK, there we go.

Lynn's gone to get more nuts.

He's left me with this bear.

I think if Lynn is crazy, I think I've joined him in the ranks of craziness.

If you chase me,

I'm going to have to run away in my socks.

Every morning I head into the woods to check the camera traps I've left out.

Every morning I wonder whether Hope's made it through the night.

So, I wonder if a bear has visited this site.

Something has, because I left some grapes here, and they're gone.

Isn't this going to be interesting!

This is a video camera trap,

as opposed to a stills camera trap, so we'll get moving images.

OK.

Right, what do we have?

OK, come on.

Oh! It's Hope!

The briefest glimpse of a little bear round the back of the tree.

That's fantastic.

It's exactly what I wanted to find.

A tree that Hope was coming to.

Great.

This might give us a real chance to learn where Hope goes.

But to track her, and find out what else she's surviving on,

we'll need to put a radio collar on her.

You remind me to remind you to switch it on, OK?

This is not going to be easy.

'The first step will be to gain Hope's trust.'

I'm here listening out for any signs of this bear cub coming back,

and the only thing I can hear

is the incessant buzzing of mosquitoes in my ears.

Get off!

Swine!

Oh!

The chipmunks are down there drinking the formula milk

that's been put out for the bear.

'Hours of waiting, and then...'

Hey, Hope.

Hi!

A big change since the last time I saw her.

Good bear.

She's still tiny, though.

I just can't believe that she's out here all by herself.

Very independent

and resilient little bear.

I think it didn't take her long to just kick into survival mode.

It's funny, because, as much as they're like us,

or I keep on putting human attributes on them,

they're completely dissimilar, because you think,

right, OK, if Lily and Hope got together,

would Lily have any sense of guilt?

But that's just not an emotion that bears would have.

No, I don't think bears feel guilt.

It's great to see her

after all this time.

I was beginning to think she wasn't going to show up at all.

You notice sometimes she'll spit it out on the back of her paw.

Is that intentional?

Yeah, they sort of use it like a plate or something.

-Keep it off the ground.

-Yeah.

The food has helped her, but 99.9% of the time,

she is alone in this forest making her own way.

And it's plain sailing from here on as far as food for her.

It's just going to get better and better throughout the year.

Yep. The bushes are just hanging with green fruit right now.

It just needs to ripen.

This extra food is just the means to an end.

The touching just helps her become accustomed

to having hands on her, and hopefully we can get a collar on her

and find out exactly where she's going.

THEY CHUCKLE

That is a relaxed-looking bear.

As cute as Hope is, helping to keep a wild bear alive and collaring her

is not something everyone approves of.

The local newspaper has supported Lynn's work,

but this time, the editor, Marshall Helmberger,

thinks he's gone too far.

Lynn has been kind of a lightning rod for controversy for some time.

You know, there've been a number of run-ins that Lynn has had

with a lot of the more mainstream bear biologists,

and wildlife biologists in general don't always see eye to eye

with some of Lynn's methods.

You know, nature isn't a Disney production.

It...it, er...

You know, young animals die all the time.

You know, with Hope,

I think I would have let nature take its course.

Have you ever had so many dilemmas over one bear?

Well, probably not.

But sometimes you got to do new things to learn new things.

The only thing we would have learned if she died

is that an orphaned cub of that age can die - we already knew that.

But I thought they could learn a lot more about the wild ways

living out here their whole life,

so I thought, I bet you with just a little supplemental food

until the natural food is available and she can eat it,

-we'd give her a better start.

-Yeah.

Another thing that she can teach us

is the whole thing about nature versus nurture.

With no mother to show her,

we wondered is she going to eat the same as other bears?

Does she instinctively know what is the right thing to eat?

And we'll see what kind of mother she is with no example.

Is she going to be a slightly screwed-up bear?

You know, when people have these traumatic events in their childhood,

they grow up slightly different or slightly screwy.

Is that going to happen with her?

That's one of the things I have never studied

in an orphan this long before. I plan to study her for her whole life.

Hope's already proved she's a determined little cub,

but she's defenceless against the predators stalking these woods,

animals we only see on camera traps,

like foxes,

fishers

and wolves.

Juliet's three cubs get all the protection they need.

ELECTRONIC BEEPING

Yeah, definitely off in this direction.

Hey, bear.

It's me, bear.

Juliet's family is a yardstick to help us measure Hope's progress.

'But today it's harder than usual to find them.'

Hmm, she's very close, but this rain is not a good thing.

It just makes them really nervous.

You think of an animal that's fearful of predation, every single noise it's wary of

and what happens when it's raining like this,

it's just...it's too noisy, it makes them nervous.

THUNDER RUMBLES

She's been right here.

Oh, she's literally been just here.

This ants' nest, she's had a feed.

A nice footprint there, all the ants still scurrying about.

As you can see, she's just moved off in that direction.

By the time I reach them, Juliet's cubs are parked up a tree.

It's the safest place to be while their mother is elsewhere.

THUNDER RUMBLES

These cubs will spend much of their time right up in the trees

and just staying very, very quiet, and Juliet will be off foraging.

They're still feeding from the mum,

so they're not having to find as much nutrition as she is,

to kind of keep the engine running.

It's a little bit sad when I see these three cubs with their mum.

I think about poor little Hope, who's by herself.

Hey, girl.

Jeez, I didn't notice you coming back.

Nice and steady, steady, steady.

I've spent so much time with the bears, I'm noticing subtle things,

like how Juliet tells her cubs all is safe.

-JULIET GRUNTS SOFTLY

-I heard her making that kind of noise,

and the cubs are starting to come down,

so that was obviously the signal for them to all move off.

Ah...

Did you see how tentatively they come down? They're really nervous.

These cubs are spoilt.

They get to play with each other,

their food's provided by their mother, life is easy for them.

But for Hope, life is very different.

Being abandoned at this age

may well affect the relationships she has with bears in the future.

I think it's a miracle that she's survived this far.

Hello!

It's quite a nice place for you to hang out.

Are you going to come over and see me? Come on.

Come on, chipmunk.

I've got some bigger nuts.

It'll be worth the effort, come on.

In my Minnesota cabin, almost alone,

I'm reminded of how many thousands of miles away I am from my home.

This is, I suppose, my idea of heaven.

I've got a cabin beside a beautiful lake.

As great as this is and as perfect as it is,

a big part of me still wants to be with my wife and kids.

But they're coming out here, so it will be perfect then.

I'm trying to make some friends in the meantime.

By mid-June, the forest is bursting with food.

The bears subtly shift their diet day to day.

Right now, berries are beginning to ripen.

Wow! Loads, have a look.

Just laden with blueberries.

And it's great to see these natural foods coming up.

This is the kind of thing that's going to really hold Hope's attention.

It's going to fill her up and she'll become less and less reliant

on this supplementary food that we've been giving her.

It's fantastic Hope can get more food from the forest than from us.

She hasn't visited the pine tree for several days

but that means our chances of getting the radio collar on her

could be slipping away.

Time for treats.

I've brought in, um, a few of her favourite things - grape,

the formula milk and some mealworms.

But when she gets bigger, she's going to move out of here

and it's going to be impossible to keep track of her.

That's why it's so important that we get the collar on her,

and so important that she gets used to this physical contact.

I sit under Hope's favourite tree and wait.

I do not believe it.

Hey, Hope.

How on earth have you managed to make it?

Hey?

Now... Hey, we've got some of this delicious milk.

Try some of this.

It's got all of your favourite things.

It got egg yolk...

...it's got fish oil...

HOPE WHIMPERS SOFTLY

Come on, you can move forward.

You have to move forward, or you can come up on my shoulder.

You know, I just think this little animal

is one of the most incredible little characters I've ever known.

Against all of the odds, she's made it.

She should still be with her mum for another whole year.

We have to get her used to touch so we can put this collar on

and keep track of her,

find out what life for a bear like this will be like in the future.

Don't get worried.

Just the neck, it's just the neck.

I think if she's made it this far...

Maybe too soon to speak, but I think you're going to be OK, Hope.

HE CHUCKLES SOFTLY

There are times in your life when you know you're doing things

that you will remember for a very long, long, long time.

And this is one of them.

She just silently walked away.

Don't worry, girl, everything's going to be all right.

With Hope doing so well, I can breathe a sigh of relief.

It's perfect timing - my family has flown out from Scotland to join me.

They want to see what's been keeping me away for so long.

Mum, the chipmunk!

CHATTERING

'The plan was to introduce them to some of the bears,

'but Lola and Harris seem more obsessed with chipmunks.'

Leave only footprints, not bits of grass sticking down his hole.

He'll talk into that.

He will talk into it. What do you think he'll say?

He might go up your ear and come out of your nose,

and then... and then he might live in your hair.

He could, but a bear could live in my hair!

Let's set it running and then back off to a safe distance.

-Do it all day?

-Yeah.

Have a look at this.

I have a stowaway in my car.

Look, look, there he is.

CHUCKLES

I must have left the door open.

Right, sir.

Chippie chipmunk, where are you?

I quite like having a chipmunk in the car.

Oh, he's on the floor.

Nobody here? OK, I need to get out and film the bears.

'Hopefully, the chipmunks will keep Wendy and the kids entertained for a while.

'I have unfinished business with Lily.'

# Look for the bare necessities The simple bare necessities

# Forget about your worries and your strife... #

Yeah, man.

# ...Look for the bare necessities... #

'Lily is moving really fast.

'I want to know, if she's not caring for her cub,

'what exactly is she doing with her day?'

Hey, Lily.

It's me, bear.

Hey, Lily.

I don't know what she's after.

I don't think she's trying to get away from me.

Well, she's not. She's just doing her thing.

Slow down.

What's she got there?

Sniffing about.

Let's see if I can move in closer without upsetting all these ants.

It's OK, girl.

Hey, girl.

Oh, look at that, man. There are hundreds.

Hundreds and hundreds.

She's just hoovering them up with her tongue.

Just go for the pupae, not the ants, because the ants can bite.

Oh, wow! There was pupae there and it's all gone.

I've got a bug up my nose. Apologies.

Really typical foraging behaviour.

There's no three-course meal.

She just gets whatever she can find on the way.

A few mouthfuls and then she's off again.

# If you look under the rocks and plants

# And take a glance at the tiny ants

# And maybe try a few... #

"You eat ants?" "Hey, sure I do."

She's probably getting a mouthful of food every couple of minutes.

This is what it's all about - bear-walking,

walking with bears, call it what you want.

It's just nice. It's really, really nice.

She's scent-marking all these branches.

She's on the hunt for a male, and that's the reason she left Hope.

Hey, Lily, are you going to have a rest?

I suggest that would be a really good idea.

Just sit down, rest, take it easy, have a snooze.

Eventually, Lily does slow down and takes a break near Lynn's cabin.

It's too good an opportunity for Wendy, Lola and Harris to miss.

I'm going to take Wendy and the kids in to see their first bear in the wild.

Considering I was scared when I first came to go and see bears,

I can't believe, the journey I've been on,

that I'm now happy to take my kids in to see this bear

and feel completely comfortable and safe.

I should feel slightly nervous!

-But I trust you and I trust Lynn, so...

-Are you worried, Harris?

No, there's nothing to worry about.

-This is exciting, isn't it?

-Yes.

TRACKING DEVICE BEEPS

-Don't run!

-You take my hand.

OK, nice and quiet, nice and quiet.

-Me coming with you?

-You wait here.

-We'll stay here.

-You might scare her, Harris.

I know Lily's easy-going,

but for their first meeting with a wild black bear, the family's hanging back.

Hey, Lily.

Hey, bear.

'Gordon has gotten to know her, so Gordon's gonna be OK going up to her.

'In fact, she was sleeping here and when she saw that it was Gordon,

'everything was OK. She's still just lying down.'

I actually...have complete trust that he knows what he's doing.

He just looks completely at ease and comfortable, as does the bear.

It's quite...

Why do you think there is all that mythology around bears

if none of these bears are known to attack anyone?

Yeah. Well, once in a great while, they do.

But they've made them into the modern demons.

It's just all a big myth.

If she didn't know Gordon and she wasn't comfortable,

what might she have done?

-Oh, ran away.

-Just run away?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Our perception of bears is such a contradiction.

On one hand, they're an animal to be feared, and on the other hand,

they're a cuddly toy that you take to bed or a cartoon character

or some friendly woodland creature in a movie.

It's walking away into the forest.

Bye!

I had absolutely no fear at all, once I saw it.

-Yeah.

-I was kind of apprehensive going in.

I think it's the anticipation of not knowing what to expect.

And then as soon as you saw it and it looked at you,

it just put its head down again.

What we've seen here with Wendy and the kids and Gordon

shows that attitudes can change.

People that were once afraid of bears

see real bears, they learn the truth from the bears themselves.

Here are the trees!

'It's been really great to share this whole experience with my family.

-Shoes on or shoes off?

-Keep them on.

I see one, I see one.

There! Oh, yes!

You beauty!

Let's see it. Ooh, look at that!

As we work out whether one tiny crayfish can feed a family of four,

there's a rustling way up in a nearby tree.

See, what's in the tree? Look, look, look!

Oh, see? Do you know who that is?

-No.

-Harris, did you see?

-Is it Hope?

-Uh-huh.

The amount of times I've come down here,

looking for this bear and never, ever bumped into her...

-Just see, moving in there.

-She's moving in there, look.

She's on the tree, on the tree. See the big tree?

-She's looking at us!

-Just nice and quiet.

It's all right, darling, it's all right.

I just saw her ear.

-Harris, are you scared of that bear?

-Look!

That baby's even younger than you!

What does she do, if she's not with her mum?

-Is she going around looking for food?

-Yeah.

I had a little tear in my eye.

Because she's a young, abandoned one, and we're with the kids,

and she was just frolicking around in those trees,

I thought...I felt very...it was like a kind of heart-warming moment!

I think that was a very special little moment.

Do you know what's good about that? That she ran away from us.

Why?

Cos people hunt bears, and it's good if she's scared of people.

Running away from them is a good thing.

That's what we would have wanted her to do.

-Yeah.

-Keep her scared.

-So no-one will kill her?

-Exactly.

We don't want that to happen, do we?

Definitely not.

'I'm so glad Hope's wary of everyone but me, Lynn and Sue.'

I think you're spot-on.

'Staying away from humans is a wise move for bears.'

Where a road cuts through a bear's territory, this is a common sight.

It's holiday season, and Juliet's GPS collar

tells us she's leading her cubs to the edge of a very busy highway.

Pretty much on the busiest day of the year,

Juliet's crossed over the main highway.

She's on this side and looks as if she's wanting to cross back over.

It is really worrying, cos hardly 30 seconds pass

that there's not some car hurtling down the road.

I really am quite worried.

She crosses the road every other day, but does it when it's quiet.

She doesn't know that it's the holiday weekend.

A lot of people come up to their cabins, so it's more busy than usual.

OK, Juliet's doubled back and she's about to cross the road.

I can see five cars right at the moment.

Oh, gosh, this isn't good.

I don't know what to do.

OK, it looks like she's going to try and cross. Oh, Juliet, please, no.

Come on, Juliet, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run! Run!

Get over. Get over.

Come on, Juliet. Oh...

Just cross!

Just cross, for goodness' sake.

OK, the cubs are running, she's going across.

Woo! She's made it!

Well done!

-INDISTINCT SHOUT

-Yeah, she's crossed.

Nobody wants to run a bear down,

and these guys, they saw me and then slowed down.

They were probably wondering what I was looking at. Good.

Good stuff. Well done, Juliet.

Thank God that's over.

My summer visit to Minnesota is coming to an end.

I've become more attached to these animals than I ever imagined.

And my time here has helped unravel some bear mysteries.

We now know more about why some bears lose their mothering instinct

and abandon their offspring.

What we don't know is how that'll affect

a young cub like Hope, down the line.

A collar on her could help work that out.

The remote camera at Hope's feeding station has just sent an image

to Lynn's cabin, showing she's there right now.

So we're dashing off to see if we can try and find her

and try and get this collar on her.

It's me, bear. It's me, little cubby.

If she was still with Lily, would she sleep in the tree

or would she sleep at the bottom?

If she was still with Lily, she'd be snuggled up to Lily at the base.

Here's a cub that would be with her mother,

would normally be trusting her mother to alert her to danger,

and she has to do it all on her own.

-Lynn, I think she's coming.

-She might be coming.

It's amazing. She's just looking out to see if there's anything there,

whether it's safe to come down.

The things that control this cub's life is fear and food.

She has to have food to grow, to survive.

But she's worried, minute by minute, of what is going to eat me.

In many ways, this is a very important night,

because it is this bond, it's like a wedding night -

instead of a ring, it's a collar.

Because with this collar, you're going to be able to find her any time of the day.

Hope definitely wants the food,

but she's really suspicious of the collar Lynn's had made.

HOPE GROWLS

HOPE GROWLS

HOPE GROWLS

If Lynn spooks Hope, we might not get another shot at this.

HOPE GROWLS

This is the hardest bear I've ever had to try to put a collar on

and it's the littlest!

Yeah, that's how she's got this far.

HOPE GROWLS

This bear is no pushover.

I think that's why she's lasted as long.

She's a tough character. She's pretty wise, despite her young age.

It's new to her,

and her instincts are kicking in, just saying, "Avoid this.

-"If it need be, just lash out."

-HOPE GROWLS

It's a new thing. It's a new thing.

Yes!

HOPE GROWLS

After all this time, finally we've got a collar on this bear.

And all being well, we'll now be able to know where she goes,

we'll be able to follow her,

we'll be able to film her

and just find out exactly where she goes, how far she goes

and how she's managed to make it this far.

Now I'll just calm her down.

Well done.

I bet she's going to have a few surprises for us.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Next time, it's autumn.

In Minnesota, that means hunting season.

My intent is to, you know, kill a wild bear.

The bigger the bear, the better.

To protect our bears, I'll have to put myself in the firing line.

And Hope does surprise me,

in a way I would never have predicted.

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