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A review by trish204
Rescuing the Spectacled Bear by Stephen Fry
4.0
Heartbreaking and heartwarming. That's the best way to describe this book and the foundation Stephen Fry, together with others, has started.
Most of you, if any, might have heard of this bear (perhaps even without knowing the species' name) through some headlines not too long ago when an "alien-like creature" had been found in some deforested area of the Peruvian Amazonia. After some examination it was found that it was indeed not E.T. but a bear that had been starving and caught several parasites which caused the poor thing to lose all its fur. It became a symbol for what happens when you force animals out of their habitat for money and the already big campaign against lumbering in the Amazonian jungle got some more drive.
That is the kind of bear we're talking about here. The above mentioned incident happened after the events of this book.
I dwell on this history of Fujimori because it seems to me in many ways to present a condensed history of Peru that is closer to the destiny of Spectacled Bears than you might think. From disaster to promise back to disaster again, by way of hope, violence, corruption and incompetence.
As usual, Stephen Fry has done a fantastic job of not only telling us of the titular Spectacled Bears but of the country they live in - its history as well as economy, which all tie in to the fate of these wonderful, shy, and elusive creatures.
There is more love in a sterile syringe than all the herbal teas in China.
(This about the treatment for the two female bears they rescued and how moved Fry was to see everything modern medicine has to offer as a way of helping them, which made him think of some friends at home who swear on homeopathy - which Fry himself, bless him, apparently likes about as much as I do.)
A little bit of background perhaps:
In 2001 the BBC made a documentary called Paddington Bear: The Early Years (sadly, there seems no way I can watch this, it seems to have been on TV exclusively *sniffles*), detailing what kind of bear the beloved children's book character was, where those bears come from (yes, there are bears in South America!), what their habitats look like, what their situation is. One bear, Yogi, was rescued from a cruel fate and brought to a better enclosure.
This moved Stephen Fry so much that he and some other people (working WITH the BBC but not FOR the BBC this time) set out to start the afore-mentioned foundation and rescue even more bears (also by buying land where they could live) only a few months later.
This book, then, chronicles the rescue of two female bears that had been held in a café (I'm not kidding, that owner should be tortured to death), the relocation of two males from a "zoo", as well as the first date of Paula (another rescued female) and Yogi.
Sadly, Fry didn't get to spend too much time with the animals so we mostly read about the journey itself: the political situation, the infuriating corruption on all levels of society, the way a number of normal people help because conserving their country's fauna and flora is important to them no matter how little they have themselves, diarrhoea (oh yeah), the stark difference between Peru and Chile (I had no idea), some historical sites, but also the impressive and diverse nature that can be found in Peru.
You have mountains that are second in height only to the Himalayas, you have beaches, you have incredibly hot/humid and loud jungles, you have the famous Nasca lines in the driest desert on the planet, you have lakes, glens and valleys that remind one of the Scottish highlands (high and cold/dry places), you have the famous Machu Pichu, you have 10% of the world's bird population in the Peruvian part of Amazonia alone!
Bears, being high up in the food chain and the largest mammal in the country, are what is known as an Index Species. The fate and health of the bear is a kind of barometer of the well-being and destiny of the entire ecosystem they inhabit.
And I'm sorry to say but in that case it looks very bleak indeed. I understand that this is not a first world country and that most things are run differently (no judgement), but what is described here alone is so incredibly unimaginable and it can only be worse on a bigger scale.
It's a good thing then that Stephen Fry has used his trademark humour in this book or else I might have beaten someone to death with it. The dry wit, his spot-on observations, his clumsiness ... it's all so endearing.
I like that Fry tried to stay optimistic and that he's never patronizing the country or people in it, but he does take a critical look at all kinds of aspects and doesn't shy away from naming the problems.
The epilogue was very rewarding and moving and I will check out that website to see if the foundation still exists and, possibly, to see how Paula and Yogi are doing (they put up cameras).
I hope the species can make it.
Most of you, if any, might have heard of this bear (perhaps even without knowing the species' name) through some headlines not too long ago when an "alien-like creature" had been found in some deforested area of the Peruvian Amazonia. After some examination it was found that it was indeed not E.T. but a bear that had been starving and caught several parasites which caused the poor thing to lose all its fur. It became a symbol for what happens when you force animals out of their habitat for money and the already big campaign against lumbering in the Amazonian jungle got some more drive.
That is the kind of bear we're talking about here. The above mentioned incident happened after the events of this book.
I dwell on this history of Fujimori because it seems to me in many ways to present a condensed history of Peru that is closer to the destiny of Spectacled Bears than you might think. From disaster to promise back to disaster again, by way of hope, violence, corruption and incompetence.
As usual, Stephen Fry has done a fantastic job of not only telling us of the titular Spectacled Bears but of the country they live in - its history as well as economy, which all tie in to the fate of these wonderful, shy, and elusive creatures.
There is more love in a sterile syringe than all the herbal teas in China.
(This about the treatment for the two female bears they rescued and how moved Fry was to see everything modern medicine has to offer as a way of helping them, which made him think of some friends at home who swear on homeopathy - which Fry himself, bless him, apparently likes about as much as I do.)
A little bit of background perhaps:
In 2001 the BBC made a documentary called Paddington Bear: The Early Years (sadly, there seems no way I can watch this, it seems to have been on TV exclusively *sniffles*), detailing what kind of bear the beloved children's book character was, where those bears come from (yes, there are bears in South America!), what their habitats look like, what their situation is. One bear, Yogi, was rescued from a cruel fate and brought to a better enclosure.
This moved Stephen Fry so much that he and some other people (working WITH the BBC but not FOR the BBC this time) set out to start the afore-mentioned foundation and rescue even more bears (also by buying land where they could live) only a few months later.
This book, then, chronicles the rescue of two female bears that had been held in a café (I'm not kidding, that owner should be tortured to death), the relocation of two males from a "zoo", as well as the first date of Paula (another rescued female) and Yogi.
Sadly, Fry didn't get to spend too much time with the animals so we mostly read about the journey itself: the political situation, the infuriating corruption on all levels of society, the way a number of normal people help because conserving their country's fauna and flora is important to them no matter how little they have themselves, diarrhoea (oh yeah), the stark difference between Peru and Chile (I had no idea), some historical sites, but also the impressive and diverse nature that can be found in Peru.
You have mountains that are second in height only to the Himalayas, you have beaches, you have incredibly hot/humid and loud jungles, you have the famous Nasca lines in the driest desert on the planet, you have lakes, glens and valleys that remind one of the Scottish highlands (high and cold/dry places), you have the famous Machu Pichu, you have 10% of the world's bird population in the Peruvian part of Amazonia alone!
Bears, being high up in the food chain and the largest mammal in the country, are what is known as an Index Species. The fate and health of the bear is a kind of barometer of the well-being and destiny of the entire ecosystem they inhabit.
And I'm sorry to say but in that case it looks very bleak indeed. I understand that this is not a first world country and that most things are run differently (no judgement), but what is described here alone is so incredibly unimaginable and it can only be worse on a bigger scale.
It's a good thing then that Stephen Fry has used his trademark humour in this book or else I might have beaten someone to death with it. The dry wit, his spot-on observations, his clumsiness ... it's all so endearing.
I like that Fry tried to stay optimistic and that he's never patronizing the country or people in it, but he does take a critical look at all kinds of aspects and doesn't shy away from naming the problems.
The epilogue was very rewarding and moving and I will check out that website to see if the foundation still exists and, possibly, to see how Paula and Yogi are doing (they put up cameras).
I hope the species can make it.