About BC Books Online
BC Books Online was created for anyone interested in BC-published books, and with librarians especially in mind. We'd like to make it easy for library staff to learn about books from BC publishers - both new releases and backlist titles - so you can inform your patrons and keep your collections up to date.
Our site features print books and ebooks - both new releases and backlist titles - all of which are available to order through regular trade channels. Browse our subject categories to find books of interest or create and export lists by category to cross-reference with your library's current collection.
A quick tip: When reviewing the "Browse by Category" listings, please note that these are based on standardized BISAC Subject Codes supplied by the books' publishers. You will find additional selections, grouped by theme or region, in our "BC Reading Lists."
Description
A zookeeper’s story of her extraordinary relationship with the bears she has rescued and her insights into their emotional lives.
?An inspiring trip into the mind and reality of bears.”
?Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of When Elephants Weep
Few people know bears as intimately as Else Poulsen. She has raised bears, comforted bears, taught bears, learned from bears, had bears communicate their needs to her, and nursed bears back to health. This remarkable book reveals the many insights about bears and their lives that she has gained through her work with them.
In the eighties, Poulsen became a zookeeper in Calgary, where she rehabilitated bears in crisis. She has shared in the joy of a polar bear discovering soil under her paws for the first time in twenty years, felt the pride of a cub learning to crack nuts with her molars, and grieved at the horror of captivity for Asian black bears in China.
Smiling Bears provides an enlightening and moving portrait of bears in all their richness and complexity and of Poulsen’s exhilarating work with them.
Contributor Notes
Else Poulsen holds a B.SC. degree in biological sciences. She has worked at the Calgary and Detroit zoos and is known internationally in the zoo and animal welfare community for her work with captive bear husbandry and rehabilitation. She has taught at conferences and workshops around the world and won the Zookeeper Excellence Award for bear research from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association in 2000. She currently lives in southern Ontario and works with zoos and other animal welfare organizations as an animal behavior specialist.
Stephen Herrero is a Professor of Environmental Science and Biology at the University of Calgary. He is recognized throughout the world as a leading authority on bear ecology, behaviour, and attacks. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
