Smiling Bears: A Zookeeper Explores the Behaviour and Emotional Life of Bears - Hardcover

Poulsen, Else

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1553653874 ISBN 13: 9781553653875

Publisher: Greystone Books, 2009

Synopsis

Few people have known bears as intimately as Else Poulsen has. This remarkable book reveals the many insights about bears and their emotional lives that she has gained through her years of work with them. Always approaching each bear with the same two questions in mind — "Who are you?" and "What can I do for you?" — Poulsen has shared in the joy of a polar bear discovering soil under her paws for the first time in 20 years and felt the pride of a cub learning to crack nuts with her molars. She has also felt the hateful stare of one bear that she could not befriend, and she has grieved in the abject horror of captivity for a sun bear in Indonesia. Featuring photographs from Poulsen's personal collection, Smiling Bears provides an enlightening and moving portrait of bears in all their richness and complexity.

About this title

About the Author

Else Poulsen has worked at the Calgary and Detroit zoos and is known internationally for her work rehabilitating bears. In 2000 she won the Zookeeper Excellence Award for bear research from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. She lives in southern Ontario and works with zoos and other animal welfare organizations as an animal behavior specialist. Else is the author of Smiling Bears.

Stephen Herrero is a Canadian doctor of animal behaviour and ecology, and was a professor at University of Calgary. He is the author of Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance.

Review

The book provides extraordinary detail, as well as fascinating vignettes, about some of the bears Poulsen has been associated with, many of which were rescued from deplorable circuses and roadside zoos. One charming story has her feeding Halls to an 800-pound grizzly with a bad cold. —Toronto Star

(2009-03-19)

Poulsen's patience and dedication to her animal wards come out clearly in this, her first book. There's no wandering off the trail for her. Her focus is narrow and her message is precise: bears need our help. The information she shares with us is fascinating. —Quill & Quire

(2009-03-24)

An engaging and accessible animal memoir. —Winnipeg Free Press

(2009-04-05)

You will smile, laugh, and even shed a tear or two while reading this book and perhaps be moved to reach out in some way to help a bear smile somewhere in the world. If you do, you will be making this world a better place as Poulsen has done by bringing us Smiling Bears. —Bear Matters BC

(2009-05-15)

Smiling Bears . . . [is] the story of some of the most memorable bears she's known, and her own struggle to understand their complex inner lives and mysterious behavior—from their solitary pacing to their unbridled smiles . . . Poulsen doesn't hesitate to discuss bear emotions and reasoning, delving into that taboo area of anthropomorphism. —North Shore News

(2009-05-29)

For Poulsen, the suffering of bears is no laughing matter, even if her new book is called Smiling Bears. —Calgary Herald

(2009-05-30)

Smiling Bears . . . includes humorous and heartbreaking stories about bears. —Pique News Magazine

(2009-05-30)

Of each ursine inmate she encounters, Poulsen asks, 'Who are you and what can I do for you?' Eventually, each bear reveals its unique character and particular needs, resulting in fresh insights into bear behavior and psychology. —Globe & Mail

(2009-06-16)

Else Poulsen is in fact someone who knows bears . . . Poulsen's book is informed, intelligent, and imbued with a love of bears. —Halifax Sunday Herald

(2009-06-21)

Unlike other bear observers, Poulsen connected with bears on their terms instead of human terms. —Federal News Service

(2009-06-27)

Edition details

• Publisher: Greystone Books
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1553653874
• ISBN 13: 9781553653875
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272