In 1993, Perth grandmother Mary Hutton started a petition at her local shopping mall after seeing a news story about the extraction of bile from a caged and traumatised Asiatic Black Bear. Upon learning that thousands of bears were being held in these horrifying conditions throughout Asia, Mary was compelled to act, and by 1995, Free the Bears was officially formed. Since then hundreds of adorable sun, moon and sloth bears have been rescued from an existence of pain and suffering by Free the Bears and are now safe in sanctuaries in South-East Asia and India. Mary and Free the Bears are responsible for bringing the dancing bear trade in India to an end, an incredible feat given its hundreds of years of tradition. Free the Bears may be an autobiography, but Mary Hutton insists she is not the star of the story and that billing belongs to the bears. However, Mary Hutton's one decision to make a difference has had an extraordinary impact around the world.

“Truly remarkable . . . encompasses the longings and agonies of youth . . . a complex and moving novel.”—Time “Astonishing . . . a writer of uncommon imaginative power. Whatever [John Irving] writes, it will be worth reading.”—Saturday Review It is 1967. Two Viennese university students, Siggy and Hannes, roam the Austrian countryside on their motorcycles—on a quest: to liberate the bears of the Vienna Zoo. But their good intentions have both comic and gruesome consequences in this first novel from John Irving, already a master storyteller at twenty-five years old. “Imagine a mixture of Till Eulenspiegel and Ken Kesey . . . and you've got the range of the merry pranksters who hot rod through Mr. Irving's book . . . tossing flowers, stealing salt shakers, and planning the biggest caper of their young lives.”—The New York Times

A natural history and celebration of the famous bears and salmon of Brooks River. On the Alaska Peninsula, where exceptional landscapes are commonplace, a small river attracts attention far beyond its scale. Each year, from summer to early fall, brown bears and salmon gather at Brooks River to create one of North America’s greatest wildlife spectacles. As the salmon leap from the cascade, dozens of bears are there to catch them (with as many as forty-three bears sighted in a single day), and thousands of people come to watch in person or on the National Park Service’s popular Brooks Falls Bearcam. The Bears of Brooks Falls tells the story of this region and the bears that made it famous in three parts. The first forms an ecological history of the region, from its dormancy 30,000 years ago to the volcanic events that transformed it into the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. The central and longest section is a deep dive into the lives of the wildlife along the Brooks River, especially the bears and salmon. Readers will learn about the bears’ winter hibernation, mating season, hunting rituals, migration patterns, and their relationship with Alaska’s changing environment. Finally, the book explores the human impact, both positive and negative, on this special region and its wild population.

For years Jasper, a moon bear, lived a miserable existence, held captive in a cage by bear farmers in rural China. The farmers extracted the bile from Jasper's body and sold it to be used in traditional medicines. It's a horrific practice and conducted on thousands of moon bears each year. But now Jasper has the chance to be free and live a life away from pain and torture. In 2000, Animals Asia, an animal welfare organization, rescued Jasper and other captive moon bears, taking them to its Moon Bear Rescue Centre. Here veterinarians attended to the bears' wounds, hoping to give them some chance of a peaceful existence in the animal sanctuary. But after so many years of abuse Jasper's wounds, both physical and mental, are extensive. Can Jasper mend his body and mind and finally enjoy the life he was meant to live?

Learn about how zoos keep bears, the importance of zoos, and a day in the life of a zookeeper.

A collection of eleven chronologically arranged pieces of literary criticism on the works of twentieth-century American author John Irving, with a chronology and secondary bibliography; essays cover the novels, "The World According to Garp," "The Hotel New Hampshire," "The 158-Pound Marriage," "A Prayer for Owen Meany," and "The Cider House Rules."

Bears takes a look at these ever popular toys through a range of hands-on activities and creativity. Children will: develop self expression and creativity through familiar bear stories and rhymes build on mathematical concepts such as counting and size extend their knowledge and understanding of a range of scientific principles. This book is part of the Exploring Play series which are exciting topic-based books that present a range of unusual themes, together with new ideas for timeless favourites.

Loyal sports fans follow their teams through peaks and valleys, but in no other city have fans experienced the highs and lows of Chicagoans in the past generation. This collection of Ted Cox’s greatest hits writing "The Sports Section" for the Chicago Reader from 1983 to 2008 constitutes an intimate history of Chicago teams during these years. From the triumphs—the six titles won by the Bulls, the Super Bowl champion 1985 Bears, and the White Sox winning the World Series in 2005—to the regularly occurring collapses of the Cubs, Cox puts his audience on the scene. He evokes the fan’s experience with a level of vivid detail now nearly extinct from sports journalism. Cox writes like an ordinary observer who just happens to have excellent seats and easy access to the players and coaches. 1,001 Days in the Bleachers stands not only as a chronicle of Chicago’s teams but also as a portrait of the evolution of professional sports and their place in the life of the city.

Bears have fascinated people since ancient times. The relationship between bears and humans dates back thousands of years, during which time we have also competed with bears for shelter and food. In modern times, bears have come under pressure through encroachment on their habitats, climate change, and illegal trade in their body parts, including the Asian bear bile market. The IUCN lists six bears as vulnerable or endangered, and even the least concern species, such as the brown bear, are at risk of extirpation in certain countries. The poaching and international trade of these most threatened populations are prohibited, but still ongoing. Covering all bears species worldwide, this beautifully illustrated volume brings together the contributions of 200 international bear experts on the ecology, conservation status, and management of the Ursidae family. It reveals the fascinating long history of interactions between humans and bears and the threats affecting these charismatic species.