Against The Odds

The residents of Haines, Alaska are used to living alongside bears. The region surrounding their small town has one of the densest bear populations in the world. But as climate change curtails the bears’ natural food sources, encounters between bears and humans are becoming more common, putting everyone on edge.  Listen early and ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/againsttheodds...

After Bart Pieciul is mauled by a bear in the Alaska wilderness, his friends have to use all of their outdoor knowledge to keep him alive. The three men are stranded in the mountains for hours, waiting for a Coast Guard helicopter to airlift Bart to the nearest hospital. As the temperature drops, they’re desperate to prevent their friend from succumbing to blood loss and hypothermia. And they have no idea if the bear that attacked him will return. Listen early and ad free with Wondery+...

Bear. Running. Toward me. Writer and wildlife biologist Caroline Van Hemert encountered only one dangerous bear on her four-thousand-mile trip from Washington to Alaska. She survived to write about it in The Sun is A Compass: My 4,000-Mile Journey into the Alaskan Wilds. Caroline joins host Mike Corey to talk about her own experiences with bears, and what drew her to the story of snowboarder Bart Pieciul’s violent bear encounter, which she wrote about for Outside Magazine...