Barle's Story

In this inspiring and moving story, world-renowned zookeeper Else Poulsen describes how a female polar bear named Bärle was rescued from the filthy, inhumane conditions of a circus in the Caribbean and flown to the safety of the Detroit Zoo, where Poulsen helped her recover. There Bärle feels dirt instead of concrete under her paws for the first time in decades and slowly forges relationships with the other polar bears. Eventually, she mates and raises a cub. As Poulsen documents, however, not all captive bears are so fortunate. With black-and-white photographs.

Else Poulsen has worked at the Calgary and Detroit zoos and is known internationally for her work rehabilitating bears. In 2000 she won the Zookeeper Excellence Award for bear research from the American Zoo and Aquarium Association. She lives in southern Ontario and works with zoos and other animal welfare organizations as an animal behavior specialist. Else is the author of Smiling Bears.