CM Magazine: Polar Bears. (Champions of the Wild: Part 9).

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

Polar Bears. (Champions of the Wild: Part 9).

Ian Herring (Director and Producer). Christian Bruyere (Producer).
Montreal, PQ: Omni Film and the National Film Board of Canada, 1997.
25 min., VHS, $39.95.
Order number: C9197 095.

Subject Headings:
Guravich, Dan.
Polar bear.
Biologist-Biography.
Photographers-Biography.

Grades 5 - 9 / Ages 10 - 14.
Review by Betsy Fraser.

**** / 4

excerpt:

Through his work Dan Gurevich would bring the very spirit of the polar bear to millions. Dan Gurevich is a photographer. He saw his first polar bear in 1969 while traveling with the US tanker Manhattan on its voyage through the Northwest Passage. He has since made over 50 treks to the Arctic, solely because of his endless fascination with the polar bear, the largest land-based meat eater.

This videorecording shows the polar bear's life cycle and habits while illustrating the tourist attractions that they have become. The video discusses Dan Gurevich, a crusader who fought for the fate of the polar bear up until he was diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately, Gurevich's illness is one battle that he will not win, leaving his fate much more certain than that of the polar bear. This video would be good for students interested in polar bears and serve as a demonstration of the good that can happen when people fight for the future of an animal population. Today, a polar bear hide is worth only a third of what it was in 1976, and the people of Churchill, Manitoba, "show off their bears rather than kill them."

Recommended.

Betsy Fraser is a librarian with 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 - September 3, 1999.