Searching for Sky the Bear

Searching for Sky the Bear

In 2004 Canadian-Swiss bear expert, Reno Sommerhalder helped five orphan bears to survive in the Kamchatka Peninsula. He now returns to the Russian wilderness to find out what has become of them.

It was a spectacular experiment that began back in 2004, when Reno Sommerhalder along with Canadian bear expert Charlie Russell decided to save five orphan bears in the isolation of Kamchatka, taking the place of mama bear for the vulnerable cubs. Unfortunately, despite all their precautions and efforts, they could not save one of the cubs who was eaten by a male bear. Though this was a tough setback for the risky experiment, the other four did manage to survive their first summer. Six years later, Sommerhalder returns to Kamchatka, to seek out his little orphans.

He is particularly looking forward to finding Sky, the female, with whom he created a special bond. But the animal protectionist is equally eager to discover from this adventure how things are going for the bears on the largely untouched Kamchatka Peninsula, home to one of the largest bear populations in the world. Rich stocks of salmon have also helped to make the Kamchatka grizzly one of the largest brown bears in existence. This area is famous for its around 160 volcanoes and some 10,000 bears - and the adventurer meets many of them on his return.

Available versions: 50' German and 30' English