In 1968, two hippies hiking near Mt. Shasta in Northern California stumbled across an unlikely property for sale: an abandoned goldmine and surrounding land, 300 acres for {dollar}22,000. Fueled by contributions from the Doors, the Monkees, Frank Zappa and others, they bought the property and named it Black Bear Ranch. It quickly became the prototypical 1960s commune, with the motto "Free Land for Free People." Utopian communities have always been...

A woman tells her young son the true story of how his great-great-grandfather, Captain Harry Colebourn, rescued and learned to love a bear cub in 1914 as he was on his way to take care of soldiers' horses during World War I, and the bear became the inspiration for A.A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

"When Harry Colebourn saw a baby bear at a train station, he knew he could care for it. Harry was a veterinarian. But he was also a soldier in training during World War I. Harry named the bear Winnie, short for Winnipeg, his company's home town, and he brought her along to the military camp in England. Winnie followed Harry everywhere and slept under his cot every night. Before long, she became the regiment's much-loved mascot. But who could care...

"In 1928, Edward and Florence Clark opened a roadside attraction in Lincoln, New Hampshire, for visitors to the White Mountains. Ed Clark's Eskimo Sled Dog Ranch featured guided tours with its purebred Eskimo sled dogs and artifacts from Labrador, Canada. "The Stand" offered souvenirs, tonic, and maple products to motorists. Three black bears, Soggle, Toggle, and Woggle, joined the family in 1935, and the bears acted as the perfect visual attraction,...

Black Bears presents readers with substantive yet easily digestible information on this widespread yet sometimes feared animal. Where do black bears live? What enemies do they have? How do they communicate? What issues exist in the controversial relationship between bears and humans? This book contains all the information you need to know to become familiar with these fascinating animals. Accompanied by numerous full-color photos of black bears in...

Presents information about Asiatic black bears, also known as moon bears because of the white crescent across their chest, describing their physical features, habitat, life cycle, and feeding behavior and the efforts being made in China and Vietnam to protect them.

The return of the Black Bear from the edge of being lost to New Hampshire is the topic for a program set for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24 at the Derry Public Library. A speaker from New Hampshire Fish and Game will discuss the history of New Hampshire's only bear species, and how it went from endangered in the state to numbering about 5,000.

For years Jasper, a moon bear, lived a miserable existence, held captive in a cage by bear farmers in rural China. The farmers extracted the bile from Jasper's body and sold it to be used in traditional medicines. It's a horrific practice and conducted on thousands of moon bears each year. But now Jasper has the chance to be free and live a life away from pain and torture. In 2000, Animals Asia, an animal welfare organization, rescued Jasper and other...

Moon bears, or Asiatic black bears, get their name from the white moon-shaped blaze on their chests. Sadly, there are more moon bears in captivity than in the wild, as the animals are being farmed for their commercially valuable bile. This text pays tribute to the endangered species.