CM Magazine: Champions of the Wild. Part 3: Grizzlies.

________________ CM . . . . Volume VI Number 3 . . . . October 1, 1999

Champions of the Wild.

Christian Bruyere and Ian Herring (Producers - Omni). George Johnson (Producer - NFB). Michael Chechik (Executive Producer- Omni).
Montreal, PQ: Omni Film and the National Film Board of Canada, 1997.

Part 3: Grizzlies.
Christian Bruyere and Ian Herring (Producers).
25 min., VHS, $39.95 each. $449.95 set of 13 ($39.95 each).
Order Number: C9197 193. Series Order Number: 193C 9197 106.

Subject Headings:
McCrory, Wayne.
Grizzly bear-British Columbia.

Grades 5 - 10 / Ages 10 - 15.
Review by Betsy Fraser.

**** /4

excerpt:

"We shouldn't be here to leave endangered species or extinct species. We should be here to share part of the earth and part of everything that's here and use it wisely. My plea is, 'Let's act now and save a lot more areas and let's start using the forest properly and stop clear-cutting. We don't have much time left.'" Wayne McCrory.

This entry in the "Champions of the Wild" series features a 25-year veteran in an ongoing lobby for the protection of Canadian wildlife and habitats. Wayne McCrory was born and raised in British Columbia. He has been campaigning for a quarter of a century to protect the grizzly and the "rare white spirit bear of the B.C. rain forest" as well as to save the "last rare tracks of Canada's western wilderness." The life cycles of the Grizzly bear and the white spirit bear are ably shown, although the audience should be a little more mature to witness the mating process and a bear that has lost one leg to a bullet.
McCrory's efforts have been rewarded. The formation of the Valhalla Wilderness Society brought a group dedicated to fighting industrial forestry and clear-cutting. The Valhalla Provincial Park was created in 1983, and support from the United Nations led to the creation of a grizzly bear sanctuary. These environmentalists have won support from many countries, but they are fighting to acquire protected reserves covering two-thirds of a million acres.
The scenery in this video alone is worth watching. To be able to see clearly shot footage of an animal that is one of only 200 left in the world is a rare privilege. The comparison between the existing rain forest and land that has been clear-cut speaks eloquently of the environmentalists' plight. Grizzlies is useful to demonstrate ongoing battles with environmental hazards, as well as endangered animals and the cooperation that will be necessary to save groups of animals in the world.

Recommended.

Betsy Fraser is a librarian with the Calgary Public Library.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - October 1, 1999.