Interview with Jack Hanna

Jack, you filmed in Alaska last year and now you've returned. What are you hoping to film this time around?

Last year when we were in Alaska we came at a time of year when the fishing was pretty good but the salmon were not running. They don't know what happened. The fish just didn't come. Therefore, the bears didn't come. We had to create a show about the fish here.

Jack Hanna

This time, we arrived later in September and the bears are everywhere. I have been on every continent in the world filming animals and I have never seen such a concentration of a single species of animal like this bear right here at Kulik, at the Katmai National Park. It has been a phenomenal, incredible experience. The largest terrestrial carnivore in this part of the world in such numbers, such closeness. We're also looking at the way in which these animals relate to human beings.

What one thing do you want the viewers to know about Alaska and the wildlife here?

You can kiss yourself good-bye if a bear gets you! No, Alaska is one of the last great wilderness areas on the North America continent. You really appreciate the feel of Alaska, the air. The scenery is incomparable. It's beyond anything I ever thought it would be the first time I came and that's why I've been back to Alaska five or six times. It's the closest we can get to something like Africa without going overseas, basically.

People sometimes think of Alaska as another country and of course it's the U.S. but I get a feeling here like I get in Africa. The mountains, the wildlife, the people are nice. The population is only some 600,000 people in the entire state which is enormous.

What is the most surprising aspect you have discovered about these brown bears while filming here?

Their relationship to human beings here. The brown bear is the coastal brown bear and when you get 100 miles inward, it's the grizzly. I've been with the grizzly living in Montana, and the bear is not necessarily habituated like some animals. That's most likely the problem that we have in Glacier and Yellowstone. These bears tend to get along with people. There's a great food source here and there's just no competition for food and they see people fishing and they just fish right with them. Everyone seems to get along well and there's been no bear attack at Katmai during the last fifty years.