Bear Haven is located about 50 miles outside Anchorage, Alaska, in the Susitna Valley. In this remote spot, Charlie has watched four generations of bears mature, mate, and rear their young.

Since the bears first approached Charlie two decades ago, he has come to know them as few others have. Sally, a grizzly female, has been a Bear Haven visitor for 16 years. Several years were needed for Sally to come to trust Charlie, then one day she brought her newly weaned daughter, Cookie, to Charlie (see photo). Cookie is now herself a mother, to young Coco.

 

In Charlie's words:

“I started feeding the bears about twenty years ago. The State has always been critical of anyone who feeds bears except for hunters who are allowed to feed under the baiting laws. It has been legal to feed bears if you intend to kill them, but you may not feed them for any other reason.

"About five years ago, the State Troopers came out twice in a State helicopter and the second time they ticketed me. They came back last summer and ticketed me for feeding bears during the summer of 2007. In September of 2008, two helicopters and a fixed wing airplane landed at the cabin with ten heavily armed—and in some cases body-armored—Troopers and biologists. They searched my cabin and took a lot of evidence and left. I feel that several "items of evidence" had nothing to do with this case, such as personal photos that were taken 10 or more years ago.

"I stayed out at the cabin until the end of September and then left for Oregon. In early October, they raided and searched my home in Anchorage and at that time they seized my airplane and confiscated all my cameras and lenses. I think they want to make an example of me."

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The story of Bear Haven and Charlie's legal challenges have received extensive media coverage. To support Charlie in his cause, please donate. For more information about Bear Haven, contact us.

 

“Bears are made of the same dust as we, and breathe the same winds and drink of the same waters. A bear's days are warmed by the same sun, his dwellings are overdomed by the same blue sky, and his life turns and ebbs with heart-pulsings like ours....”

- John Muir”