Survival with Ray Mears
Encyclopedia
Survival with Ray Mears is a 3 part television series hosted by Ray Mears
, as he tracks predators in their natural habitats. The series is broadcast by ITV
, and was billed as the return of the Survival
brand. The series was followed by Wild Britain with Ray Mears
, also broadcast by ITV
.
Survival consists of three, hour-long, programs, focusing on Ray's tracking of the world's top predators. Ray uses his expert tracking skills and extensive wildlife knowledge to follow the leopard in Namibia, the bear in British Colombia, and the wolf in Central Idaho. By reading the clues these animals leave behind, he offers viewers the unique opportunity to gain a rich insight into their habits and lifestyles, as he follows them at remarkably close quarters in their natural habitats.
An underpinning theme running each film is the current state of each species, and the threats they now face: in Idaho
the crew arrives with only days to countdown before the wolf’s status as a protected species is lifted, and local farmers indicate their intention to begin hunting them; in British Columbia
the impact of global warming on the salmon population is felt by the bear, which relies on the fish as its main food source; and in Namibia
, the uneasy co-existence between leopards and local farmers keen to protect their livestock, is highlighted.
“They’re loners that roam huge territories, they’re perfectly camouflaged for disappearing into the thorny scrub, and as if that didn’t make them hard enough to follow, they’re most active under the cover of darkness. For a tracker, they are quite simply the ultimate challenge.”
The leopard is renowned for its strength, cunning and, above all else, its stealth, but because it is the most elusive big cat Ray believes it is also ‘hardly understood.’ So will his tracking skills help him find leopards and give us a better understanding of their habits?
In this film, Ray joins a pioneering leopard research project. Based at the Erindi Game Reserve, the project aims to monitor leopard populations and help save their lives.
The reserve is surrounded by farmland and leopards that stray onto them risk being shot, by farmers anxious to protect their livestock.
Natasha De Woronin, who runs the Global Leopard Project, has managed to fit radio collars to female leopards to help her build a map of their movements across the reserve’s 270 square miles. But she needs Ray’s expert tracking skills to help find male leopards, which have so far completely eluded her, and remain a mystery that she is desperate to solve.
Natasha says: “There are a lot of dangers out there. Definitely we have conflict between leopard and farmers, because they will take livestock as part of their natural prey. It’s just another food source to them; they don’t know it belongs to somebody.”
Ray is joined by his duo of experienced wildlife camera men – Isaac Babcock and Shane Moore. Their first step is to find a young female called Honey. Natasha has studied her since birth, has a close relationship with her, and suspects that she is starting to establish her independence, which can be a very dangerous time.
As they sit no more than 15 metres from the wild leopard, Natasha says: “I think you become even more emotionally attached to these cats when you realise how fragile everything really is. And for her, she’s just now growing up. I don’t know where we go from here. What when she meets her first male? Will she know what to do? You don’t know.”
Ray replies: “You sound like her mum!”
Honey now roams a patch of land that used to belong to her mother, who Natasha calls Phantom.
Natasha explains: “When a daughter becomes independent, what appears to happen is that the mother gives the daughter a piece of territory. But to allow that, Phantom’s now had to move out of the reserve.”
Phantom’s new territory now overlaps farmland, raising concerns because she has not been sighted for weeks.
Natasha and Ray arrive at a farm, separated from the game reserve by an electrified fence with 9,000 volts running through it, to try to establish whether or not one of her study leopards is responsible for an attack on livestock. Ray quickly identifies the tracks in the dirt around the carcasses as hyena and cheetah.
He says: “It looks to me as though the leopard gets the blame all the time and maybe he’s not always the culprit.”
The film crew also follow another known female called Yana, in the hope that her efforts to attract a mate will lead them to a male. They leave their vehicles behind and track on foot, through dried up riverbeds, known as drainage lines, which leopards and other animals use like highways.
Ray says: “This is the best newspaper in the world. You don’t buy it in the street corner; you can’t get it on the internet. It’s something you have to come out and feel and experience.”
Ray finds both female and male tracks. He thinks the male could be a particularly large specimen and they dub him ‘Houdini’, after Natasha speculates he could be the same male who has previously twice evaded capture. They set out on his trail in the hope of fitting him with a radio collar, which could prove pivotal in the project’s efforts to monitor and safeguard the reserve’s leopard population.
After a failed attempt at luring him into a trap, they head north and film at a watering hole where the night vision cameras capture the wealth of wildlife present.
Ray says: “To the human eye the African bush in darkness is just pitch black. You’ve no idea what’s out there. You feel threatened and intimidated. It’s a dangerous place.
With our special night camera, we get a view of the wilderness as the nocturnal animals see it. It’s really spooky hearing that sound. It goes right through you; touches some primal nerve deep inside our souls.”
By trailing Honey, who is now on heat, they come closer to another male leopard. Seeing and filming Honey and her mate provides a real highpoint for Ray.
He says: “The leopard is the super stealth predator and to be able to see it moving around, at night – so, so, incredible.”
He adds: “I can’t tell you. That is one of the highlights of my life. You know, tracking can tell you some things, but you can’t fill in all the pieces. For that you have to come out and observe the animals.”
But as they approach their final night of filming, they have yet to capture, either on camera, or in a trap, Houdini, the area’s dominant male leopard. The crew take their positions at the waterhole for a final vigil in the hope of a sighting of the elusive creature. Will they finally be rewarded?
Ray says: “Ever since I started tracking foxes as a boy, I don’t think I’ve been so excited about tracking anything as I have tracking leopards here. I’ve gained a unique insight into the personalities of the things I follow. So I haven’t just been following animals moving. In this case I’ve been able to follow individuals and that has been truly remarkable.”
“A lot of people fear bears,” says Ray. “I think there’s no need for that. They’re only dangerous when they’re misunderstood. To me their strength and intelligence makes them among the most intriguing of all predators. I can’t wait to track them in their world.”
British Columbia houses some of the world’s most beautiful forests, which are inhabited by a healthy number of grizzly and black bears. However, Ray is also interested in the spirit bear. This incredibly rare bear has pure white fur, and is actually a black bear carrying a recessive gene. It is thought that there are only 400 alive today, so finding one will be a daunting challenge for Ray.
Describing his plans for the second episode of the series, Ray unveils that “part of my quest is to go in search of one of the rarest bears of all, the spirit bear. I want to find out what their future really holds in store. If I’m lucky enough to see one, it will be a personal first.”
Ray starts his journey by taking a small plane into the wilderness. He touches down at Klemtu, a tiny fishing outpost, with his wildlife cameramen Shane Moore and Isaac Babcock. They hire a boat and find a remote spot, called Mussel Inlet, where Ray quickly finds tracks of grizzly bears, intent on devouring as much as they can from the annual salmon run, which is in full swing.
Grizzly bears can be very dangerous if surprised, or if a human gets too close. Thus, Ray warns the crew: “We’re entering their terrain and we need to respect that. It’s up to us to avoid triggering a confrontation. Every year, two or three people are killed by bears. I think that misreading the situation is more to blame than animal aggression. It’s critical that we don’t surprise one. We have to remember that bears can sprint at 30 mph. We’d never outrun one.”
On his guard, Ray finds numerous grizzly prints that lead him to a grizzly mother and a couple of two-year-old cubs. They play for a while but are suddenly bullied away by a massive grizzly male – a giant that would be about 3m tall if he stood up.
Ray and the crew are watching the grizzly male from across the river when, without warning, he lakes a lunge for the river and swims over to them. At this point he is just 50 feet away and Ray is aware of the potential danger.
The bear gradually moves closer until he is just 20 feet from Ray and the crew. Ray’s concern grows, but he is clear on what they must do: “We have to make sure that we’re not blocking where the bear wants to go.”
The bear seems content but suddenly his mood changes and Ray detects some agitation. He advises the crew: “You’ve got to move slowly and gently.”
Gradually the group move away from the bear, and out of danger. At this point Ray reflects: “There you go. We didn’t pose a threat to the bear; the bear wasn’t in the least bit stressed. This is their domain, and if you treat them with the respect that they deserve, you shouldn’t come to any grief.”
The presence of the huge grizzly male leads Ray to conclude that he will not find any spirit bears at the river inlet he has chosen; grizzlies seek out the best fishing spots and defend them ferociously. In order to find the elusive spirit bear, Ray decides that he should first track down black bears since spirit bears share much of the same habitat.
Ray searches numerous smaller river inlets in the huge maze of waterways which make up the Pacific Coast. Eventually, he finds an inlet bordered by thick forest. There are several lively black bears fishing for salmon in a river that is brimming with fish.
Ray is concerned not to see any young cubs: “These bears aren’t as fat as I would have expected for this time of year. And it’s peculiar that we haven’t seen any one-year-old cubs. I’d hoped to find lots of cubs being taught to fish by their mothers, and the more I think about it the more it worries me. What could possibly have happened to this year’s cubs?”
Ray consults local guide, Doug Neasloss, a member of the First Nation Kitasoo tribe. He explains that while the salmon run is strong this autumn, last year it was very poor.
Before hibernating, British Columbia’s bears gorge on salmon, putting on the fat that keeps them alive over the winter months. If they fail to eat enough fish, the bears can die of starvation over the winter, and the females may not be able to suckle their cubs. Doug believes last year’s lack of salmon may have contributed directly to a lack of cubs this year. He thinks that over-fishing could be partly to blame.
Ray is deeply concerned to hear this news. Spirit bears are often bullied away from prime fishing spots by grizzlies and he worries that last year’s poor salmon run may have affected them even more seriously.
Leading the team on a final search, Ray makes an extraordinary find: white hairs on a bear trail near a babbling stream. With just one more day to go, he hopes tomorrow will lead to a sighting of these incredibly rare animals…
Wolves are notoriously secretive animals, which makes searching for them extremely difficult. It takes all of Ray’s unique skills as a tracker to even get close to a sighting.
Ray says: “I think this is possibly going to be one of the toughest things that I’ve ever done. Very soon, wolves will be taken off the endangered species list in Idaho. So this could be my last chance to track wolves here.”
Based at a rustic lodge in the town of Stanley, Ray begins his quest by hiking into the small river valleys that drain into the crystal clear Salmon River. It’s tough terrain, and at 7,000 feet above sea level, the winter’s snows are just retreating above the valleys.
Ray says: “The thing that concerns me is the changing seasons. The ground conditions are changing hourly – not just day by day. One minute it can be snowing, the next minute it can be sunny. For tracking it’s going to be really challenging. This is a truly vast landscape, so I need a good strategy. What I want to do first is locate the wolf’s prey – so I’m looking for elk tracks or possibly moose. Where there’s prey, there’ll be predators.”
Ray’s tracking soon leads him to some elk tracks. Elk are principle prey for wolves, and Ray works out they are following the line of the snow melt. Suspecting that elk will lead him to the wolves, Ray and the team track down the herd and head for a meadow near the river.
Ray soon spots that one of the elk is lame, which he knows make it a likely target for wolves. Sure enough, he soon finds the tracks of a wolf nearby. Ray has yet to find a wolf but while hunting he gets the sense he may be close.
Ray says: “I do believe in a kind of sixth sense. Maybe it’s my subconscious reading signs before I can work them out more rationally. But I can imagine wolves prowling up there – their presence alone intimidating the elk into moving to just where they want them. So the question is, ‘Where are they now?’”
Seeking advice from wolf ecologist Curt Mack, Ray hears that Idaho’s wolf population was rescued from the brink of eradication in 1995, by an ambitious reintroduction programme. Thirty-five wolves were released back into the wild and there are now approximately 850 across the state. Ray asks Curt how it felt to release the wolves back into the wild.
Curt says: “I think it was a little bittersweet. We’d worked very hard for that one moment and we were in awe. We all kind of looked at each other. And the big question in all of our minds was, ‘What now? What’s going to happen?’”
Ironically, the reintroduction has been so successful that the animals are soon to lose their protected status. The day Ray is due to finish filming is the same day wolf hunting becomes legal.
Wolves hunt in packs and are such efficient killing machines that they have been demonised throughout history. But do they deserve such a bad reputation?
One of Idaho’s biggest livestock farmers, John Falkner tells Ray that he respects the wolf, but his first priority is to protect his flock. Wolves do occasionally attack sheep, but Ray questions how a wolf can be expected to differentiate between them and other prey.
Ray says: “It disturbs me that in just seven days time, wolves will no longer be a protected species here. Biologists believe that wolves are programmed to kill surplus prey. Farming sheep puts hundreds of prey animals in one spot. So, it’s hardly surprising that the wolf’s instincts take over.”
At dawn the following day the team get a sighting at the meadow. There are a small group of wolves but they’re not hunting elk, they’re after rodents that are emerging from the snow.
Ray says: “There’s a wolf, fantastic! Absolutely fantastic. It’s quite extraordinary to be seeing such a shy animal out in the open like this, so near the town. And actually there are two of them. Just a few years ago this was an impossible sight because there were no wolves in Idaho. A wonderful thing to see such an amazing creature, loose in the wild, living as it should. Wonderful!”
He then notices that one of the wolves is limping. Ray wants to find the whole pack and follows the tracks of the limping wolf in the hope that it will lead to a den. He finds blood in the trail, and wonders if there has been an injury or a kill.
Ray meets local hunter Brett Wooley, who tells him that he was very against the reintroduction programme. Ray is deeply concerned to hear his views.
Ray says: “I knew wolves would be hard to find, but I didn’t expect to find that people are their biggest problem. It seems that as soon as wolves come off the endangered species list, people will be lining up to shoot them. Now I’m even more determined to find the rest of the pack before it’s too late.”
Eventually, the team find the entire pack of about 12 wolves, that follow the lead of a silver backed alpha male. They discover that the alpha male is feeding on an old elk carcass that has recently thawed. Through the night, the alpha male and a young female wolf make several journeys up and down a steep cliff to where the den might be, presumably providing food for a breeding female.
The following morning Isaac is devastated to discover the young female lying dead in the snow. The cause of death is unknown, although the team believe there is a possibility she may have been poisoned.
Isaac says: “We’ve got real bad news. We just stumbled upon a dead wolf. It’s laying there in the snow. And I don’t know what to make of it. This isn’t good. It’s that younger female. She hasn’t been dead very long. Sorry old girl.”
On hearing the news Ray is visibly affected and becomes tearful.
He says: “I’m quite moved actually that this wolf will no longer leave tracks that I can follow. And I suppose you’re not supposed to get emotionally involved when you’re tracking animals for films but you do. Very special indeed.”
Worried that the rest of the pack might have eaten from the same source and have suffered the same fate, Ray leads the team on an urgent search.
They search all the ‘wolf highways’ they know of, with a fine tooth comb and after several agonising hours, find a single fresh wolf print. Finally they have evidence that at least one wolf is still alive.
After yet more searching they achieve another sighting of the wolves once again preying on rodents. Thankfully, the alpha male is alive too. It’s a huge relief for Ray and the whole team; an emotive finale that brings home the fragility of life, even for a top predator.
Ray Mears
Raymond Paul "Ray" Mears is an English woodsman, instructor, author and TV presenter. His TV appearances cover bushcraft and survival techniques, and he is best known for the TV series Ray Mears' Bushcraft, Ray Mears' World of Survival, Extreme Survival, Survival with Ray Mears, Wild Britain with...
, as he tracks predators in their natural habitats. The series is broadcast by ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, and was billed as the return of the Survival
Survival (TV series)
Survival is one of television's longest-running and most successful nature documentary series. Originally produced by Anglia Television for ITV in the United Kingdom, it was created by Aubrey Buxton , a founder director of Anglia TV, and first broadcast in 1961...
brand. The series was followed by Wild Britain with Ray Mears
Wild Britain with Ray Mears
Survival with Ray Mears is a television series hosted by Ray Mears. The show follows Mears as he explores Great Britain's inaccessible countryside and the finest habitats and wildlife within it...
, also broadcast by ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
.
Survival consists of three, hour-long, programs, focusing on Ray's tracking of the world's top predators. Ray uses his expert tracking skills and extensive wildlife knowledge to follow the leopard in Namibia, the bear in British Colombia, and the wolf in Central Idaho. By reading the clues these animals leave behind, he offers viewers the unique opportunity to gain a rich insight into their habits and lifestyles, as he follows them at remarkably close quarters in their natural habitats.
An underpinning theme running each film is the current state of each species, and the threats they now face: in Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
the crew arrives with only days to countdown before the wolf’s status as a protected species is lifted, and local farmers indicate their intention to begin hunting them; in British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
the impact of global warming on the salmon population is felt by the bear, which relies on the fish as its main food source; and in Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
, the uneasy co-existence between leopards and local farmers keen to protect their livestock, is highlighted.
Episode 1-Leopards
In the first episode of Survival, Ray Mears arrives in Namibia’s vast central highland plain, a territory he describes as ‘one of nature’s richest environments’, to track his favorite predator: the leopard.“They’re loners that roam huge territories, they’re perfectly camouflaged for disappearing into the thorny scrub, and as if that didn’t make them hard enough to follow, they’re most active under the cover of darkness. For a tracker, they are quite simply the ultimate challenge.”
The leopard is renowned for its strength, cunning and, above all else, its stealth, but because it is the most elusive big cat Ray believes it is also ‘hardly understood.’ So will his tracking skills help him find leopards and give us a better understanding of their habits?
In this film, Ray joins a pioneering leopard research project. Based at the Erindi Game Reserve, the project aims to monitor leopard populations and help save their lives.
The reserve is surrounded by farmland and leopards that stray onto them risk being shot, by farmers anxious to protect their livestock.
Natasha De Woronin, who runs the Global Leopard Project, has managed to fit radio collars to female leopards to help her build a map of their movements across the reserve’s 270 square miles. But she needs Ray’s expert tracking skills to help find male leopards, which have so far completely eluded her, and remain a mystery that she is desperate to solve.
Natasha says: “There are a lot of dangers out there. Definitely we have conflict between leopard and farmers, because they will take livestock as part of their natural prey. It’s just another food source to them; they don’t know it belongs to somebody.”
Ray is joined by his duo of experienced wildlife camera men – Isaac Babcock and Shane Moore. Their first step is to find a young female called Honey. Natasha has studied her since birth, has a close relationship with her, and suspects that she is starting to establish her independence, which can be a very dangerous time.
As they sit no more than 15 metres from the wild leopard, Natasha says: “I think you become even more emotionally attached to these cats when you realise how fragile everything really is. And for her, she’s just now growing up. I don’t know where we go from here. What when she meets her first male? Will she know what to do? You don’t know.”
Ray replies: “You sound like her mum!”
Honey now roams a patch of land that used to belong to her mother, who Natasha calls Phantom.
Natasha explains: “When a daughter becomes independent, what appears to happen is that the mother gives the daughter a piece of territory. But to allow that, Phantom’s now had to move out of the reserve.”
Phantom’s new territory now overlaps farmland, raising concerns because she has not been sighted for weeks.
Natasha and Ray arrive at a farm, separated from the game reserve by an electrified fence with 9,000 volts running through it, to try to establish whether or not one of her study leopards is responsible for an attack on livestock. Ray quickly identifies the tracks in the dirt around the carcasses as hyena and cheetah.
He says: “It looks to me as though the leopard gets the blame all the time and maybe he’s not always the culprit.”
The film crew also follow another known female called Yana, in the hope that her efforts to attract a mate will lead them to a male. They leave their vehicles behind and track on foot, through dried up riverbeds, known as drainage lines, which leopards and other animals use like highways.
Ray says: “This is the best newspaper in the world. You don’t buy it in the street corner; you can’t get it on the internet. It’s something you have to come out and feel and experience.”
Ray finds both female and male tracks. He thinks the male could be a particularly large specimen and they dub him ‘Houdini’, after Natasha speculates he could be the same male who has previously twice evaded capture. They set out on his trail in the hope of fitting him with a radio collar, which could prove pivotal in the project’s efforts to monitor and safeguard the reserve’s leopard population.
After a failed attempt at luring him into a trap, they head north and film at a watering hole where the night vision cameras capture the wealth of wildlife present.
Ray says: “To the human eye the African bush in darkness is just pitch black. You’ve no idea what’s out there. You feel threatened and intimidated. It’s a dangerous place.
With our special night camera, we get a view of the wilderness as the nocturnal animals see it. It’s really spooky hearing that sound. It goes right through you; touches some primal nerve deep inside our souls.”
By trailing Honey, who is now on heat, they come closer to another male leopard. Seeing and filming Honey and her mate provides a real highpoint for Ray.
He says: “The leopard is the super stealth predator and to be able to see it moving around, at night – so, so, incredible.”
He adds: “I can’t tell you. That is one of the highlights of my life. You know, tracking can tell you some things, but you can’t fill in all the pieces. For that you have to come out and observe the animals.”
But as they approach their final night of filming, they have yet to capture, either on camera, or in a trap, Houdini, the area’s dominant male leopard. The crew take their positions at the waterhole for a final vigil in the hope of a sighting of the elusive creature. Will they finally be rewarded?
Ray says: “Ever since I started tracking foxes as a boy, I don’t think I’ve been so excited about tracking anything as I have tracking leopards here. I’ve gained a unique insight into the personalities of the things I follow. So I haven’t just been following animals moving. In this case I’ve been able to follow individuals and that has been truly remarkable.”
Episode 2-Bears
In the second episode of Survival, Ray tracks bears in the pristine wilderness of British Columbia’s Pacific Coast region.“A lot of people fear bears,” says Ray. “I think there’s no need for that. They’re only dangerous when they’re misunderstood. To me their strength and intelligence makes them among the most intriguing of all predators. I can’t wait to track them in their world.”
British Columbia houses some of the world’s most beautiful forests, which are inhabited by a healthy number of grizzly and black bears. However, Ray is also interested in the spirit bear. This incredibly rare bear has pure white fur, and is actually a black bear carrying a recessive gene. It is thought that there are only 400 alive today, so finding one will be a daunting challenge for Ray.
Describing his plans for the second episode of the series, Ray unveils that “part of my quest is to go in search of one of the rarest bears of all, the spirit bear. I want to find out what their future really holds in store. If I’m lucky enough to see one, it will be a personal first.”
Ray starts his journey by taking a small plane into the wilderness. He touches down at Klemtu, a tiny fishing outpost, with his wildlife cameramen Shane Moore and Isaac Babcock. They hire a boat and find a remote spot, called Mussel Inlet, where Ray quickly finds tracks of grizzly bears, intent on devouring as much as they can from the annual salmon run, which is in full swing.
Grizzly bears can be very dangerous if surprised, or if a human gets too close. Thus, Ray warns the crew: “We’re entering their terrain and we need to respect that. It’s up to us to avoid triggering a confrontation. Every year, two or three people are killed by bears. I think that misreading the situation is more to blame than animal aggression. It’s critical that we don’t surprise one. We have to remember that bears can sprint at 30 mph. We’d never outrun one.”
On his guard, Ray finds numerous grizzly prints that lead him to a grizzly mother and a couple of two-year-old cubs. They play for a while but are suddenly bullied away by a massive grizzly male – a giant that would be about 3m tall if he stood up.
Ray and the crew are watching the grizzly male from across the river when, without warning, he lakes a lunge for the river and swims over to them. At this point he is just 50 feet away and Ray is aware of the potential danger.
The bear gradually moves closer until he is just 20 feet from Ray and the crew. Ray’s concern grows, but he is clear on what they must do: “We have to make sure that we’re not blocking where the bear wants to go.”
The bear seems content but suddenly his mood changes and Ray detects some agitation. He advises the crew: “You’ve got to move slowly and gently.”
Gradually the group move away from the bear, and out of danger. At this point Ray reflects: “There you go. We didn’t pose a threat to the bear; the bear wasn’t in the least bit stressed. This is their domain, and if you treat them with the respect that they deserve, you shouldn’t come to any grief.”
The presence of the huge grizzly male leads Ray to conclude that he will not find any spirit bears at the river inlet he has chosen; grizzlies seek out the best fishing spots and defend them ferociously. In order to find the elusive spirit bear, Ray decides that he should first track down black bears since spirit bears share much of the same habitat.
Ray searches numerous smaller river inlets in the huge maze of waterways which make up the Pacific Coast. Eventually, he finds an inlet bordered by thick forest. There are several lively black bears fishing for salmon in a river that is brimming with fish.
Ray is concerned not to see any young cubs: “These bears aren’t as fat as I would have expected for this time of year. And it’s peculiar that we haven’t seen any one-year-old cubs. I’d hoped to find lots of cubs being taught to fish by their mothers, and the more I think about it the more it worries me. What could possibly have happened to this year’s cubs?”
Ray consults local guide, Doug Neasloss, a member of the First Nation Kitasoo tribe. He explains that while the salmon run is strong this autumn, last year it was very poor.
Before hibernating, British Columbia’s bears gorge on salmon, putting on the fat that keeps them alive over the winter months. If they fail to eat enough fish, the bears can die of starvation over the winter, and the females may not be able to suckle their cubs. Doug believes last year’s lack of salmon may have contributed directly to a lack of cubs this year. He thinks that over-fishing could be partly to blame.
Ray is deeply concerned to hear this news. Spirit bears are often bullied away from prime fishing spots by grizzlies and he worries that last year’s poor salmon run may have affected them even more seriously.
Leading the team on a final search, Ray makes an extraordinary find: white hairs on a bear trail near a babbling stream. With just one more day to go, he hopes tomorrow will lead to a sighting of these incredibly rare animals…
Episode 3- Wolves
In this final episode, Ray and his wildlife crew of Shane Moore and Isaac Babcock turn their attentions to tracking wolves in Idaho’s stunning Sawtooth Mountains. Several wild wolf packs roam this vast and breathtaking wilderness; however, Ray has just ten days to track them before they are taken off the state’s endangered species list, where they could then be hunted.Wolves are notoriously secretive animals, which makes searching for them extremely difficult. It takes all of Ray’s unique skills as a tracker to even get close to a sighting.
Ray says: “I think this is possibly going to be one of the toughest things that I’ve ever done. Very soon, wolves will be taken off the endangered species list in Idaho. So this could be my last chance to track wolves here.”
Based at a rustic lodge in the town of Stanley, Ray begins his quest by hiking into the small river valleys that drain into the crystal clear Salmon River. It’s tough terrain, and at 7,000 feet above sea level, the winter’s snows are just retreating above the valleys.
Ray says: “The thing that concerns me is the changing seasons. The ground conditions are changing hourly – not just day by day. One minute it can be snowing, the next minute it can be sunny. For tracking it’s going to be really challenging. This is a truly vast landscape, so I need a good strategy. What I want to do first is locate the wolf’s prey – so I’m looking for elk tracks or possibly moose. Where there’s prey, there’ll be predators.”
Ray’s tracking soon leads him to some elk tracks. Elk are principle prey for wolves, and Ray works out they are following the line of the snow melt. Suspecting that elk will lead him to the wolves, Ray and the team track down the herd and head for a meadow near the river.
Ray soon spots that one of the elk is lame, which he knows make it a likely target for wolves. Sure enough, he soon finds the tracks of a wolf nearby. Ray has yet to find a wolf but while hunting he gets the sense he may be close.
Ray says: “I do believe in a kind of sixth sense. Maybe it’s my subconscious reading signs before I can work them out more rationally. But I can imagine wolves prowling up there – their presence alone intimidating the elk into moving to just where they want them. So the question is, ‘Where are they now?’”
Seeking advice from wolf ecologist Curt Mack, Ray hears that Idaho’s wolf population was rescued from the brink of eradication in 1995, by an ambitious reintroduction programme. Thirty-five wolves were released back into the wild and there are now approximately 850 across the state. Ray asks Curt how it felt to release the wolves back into the wild.
Curt says: “I think it was a little bittersweet. We’d worked very hard for that one moment and we were in awe. We all kind of looked at each other. And the big question in all of our minds was, ‘What now? What’s going to happen?’”
Ironically, the reintroduction has been so successful that the animals are soon to lose their protected status. The day Ray is due to finish filming is the same day wolf hunting becomes legal.
Wolves hunt in packs and are such efficient killing machines that they have been demonised throughout history. But do they deserve such a bad reputation?
One of Idaho’s biggest livestock farmers, John Falkner tells Ray that he respects the wolf, but his first priority is to protect his flock. Wolves do occasionally attack sheep, but Ray questions how a wolf can be expected to differentiate between them and other prey.
Ray says: “It disturbs me that in just seven days time, wolves will no longer be a protected species here. Biologists believe that wolves are programmed to kill surplus prey. Farming sheep puts hundreds of prey animals in one spot. So, it’s hardly surprising that the wolf’s instincts take over.”
At dawn the following day the team get a sighting at the meadow. There are a small group of wolves but they’re not hunting elk, they’re after rodents that are emerging from the snow.
Ray says: “There’s a wolf, fantastic! Absolutely fantastic. It’s quite extraordinary to be seeing such a shy animal out in the open like this, so near the town. And actually there are two of them. Just a few years ago this was an impossible sight because there were no wolves in Idaho. A wonderful thing to see such an amazing creature, loose in the wild, living as it should. Wonderful!”
He then notices that one of the wolves is limping. Ray wants to find the whole pack and follows the tracks of the limping wolf in the hope that it will lead to a den. He finds blood in the trail, and wonders if there has been an injury or a kill.
Ray meets local hunter Brett Wooley, who tells him that he was very against the reintroduction programme. Ray is deeply concerned to hear his views.
Ray says: “I knew wolves would be hard to find, but I didn’t expect to find that people are their biggest problem. It seems that as soon as wolves come off the endangered species list, people will be lining up to shoot them. Now I’m even more determined to find the rest of the pack before it’s too late.”
Eventually, the team find the entire pack of about 12 wolves, that follow the lead of a silver backed alpha male. They discover that the alpha male is feeding on an old elk carcass that has recently thawed. Through the night, the alpha male and a young female wolf make several journeys up and down a steep cliff to where the den might be, presumably providing food for a breeding female.
The following morning Isaac is devastated to discover the young female lying dead in the snow. The cause of death is unknown, although the team believe there is a possibility she may have been poisoned.
Isaac says: “We’ve got real bad news. We just stumbled upon a dead wolf. It’s laying there in the snow. And I don’t know what to make of it. This isn’t good. It’s that younger female. She hasn’t been dead very long. Sorry old girl.”
On hearing the news Ray is visibly affected and becomes tearful.
He says: “I’m quite moved actually that this wolf will no longer leave tracks that I can follow. And I suppose you’re not supposed to get emotionally involved when you’re tracking animals for films but you do. Very special indeed.”
Worried that the rest of the pack might have eaten from the same source and have suffered the same fate, Ray leads the team on an urgent search.
They search all the ‘wolf highways’ they know of, with a fine tooth comb and after several agonising hours, find a single fresh wolf print. Finally they have evidence that at least one wolf is still alive.
After yet more searching they achieve another sighting of the wolves once again preying on rodents. Thankfully, the alpha male is alive too. It’s a huge relief for Ray and the whole team; an emotive finale that brings home the fragility of life, even for a top predator.
See also
- Extreme SurvivalExtreme SurvivalExtreme Survival is a survival television series hosted by Ray Mears. The series airs on the BBC in United Kingdom, it is also shown on Discovery Channel in the United States, Canada, India, Italy, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Russia, where he...
- Ray Mears' BushcraftRay Mears' BushcraftBushcraft is a survival television series hosted by Ray Mears. The series airs on the BBC in United Kingdom, it also shown on Discovery Channel in the United States, Canada, India, Italy, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands, Romania and Russia...
- Wild FoodWild FoodWild Food is a documentary television series hosted by Ray Mears. The series airs on the BBC in United Kingdom, it is also shown on Discovery Channel in the United States, Canada, India, Italy, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Norway, Sweden, The Netherlands and Russia. The show was first broadcast...
- Ray Mears' Northern WildernessRay Mears' Northern WildernessRay Mears' Northern Wilderness is a television series hosted by Ray Mears, showing Mears in Canada. The series is broadcast by the BBC.Mears also released a book of the same title.-Synopsis:Ray Mears explores the Canadian wilderness...
- Wild Britain with Ray MearsWild Britain with Ray MearsSurvival with Ray Mears is a television series hosted by Ray Mears. The show follows Mears as he explores Great Britain's inaccessible countryside and the finest habitats and wildlife within it...