Mark of the Grizzly / by Scott McMillion

[Kim Allen Scott]

When Americans think about the animal dangers of Australia the focus is generally on sharks.  After all, what makes good headline copy more than some poor hapless surfer who winds up being lunch for a ruthless underwater predator?  I guess this fascination with the relatively rare occurrences of shark attacks can be partially blamed on Steven Spielberg, whose debut film Jaws scared the bejeezus out of an entire generation of moviegoers back in 1975.

However, aside from the odd snakebite story or dingo baby abduction, Americans likely feel that land animal dangers in Australia are virtually nil.  This is probably because in comparison to the subject matter of this book, they certainly seem so.  Author Scott McMillion visited me at my library a few weeks back to do some history research and afterwards presented me with an autographed copy of his Mark of the Grizzly.  I almost wish he hadn’t, because now it has scared the bejeezus out of me when I even consider camping out this summer.  This book is solidly researched, intelligently presented, and more terrifying than any horror novel I have ever read.  Grizzly bears are the top of the North American food chain, and this collection of bear attack stories shows just how powerful and unpredictable they can be.  McMillion personally interviewed the survivors represented in these stories, and also interviewed the rescue personnel who found those hikers and campers who did not survive their grizzly bear encounters.  The author displays a deep understanding of these ferocious, real life monsters that live in the countryside surrounding my town, but he never vilifies them.  In spite of the graphic and gory details Scott provides on each incident, his sympathy extends to the bears as well as the humans, arguing for the respect we should all practice in order to coexist with grizzly bears.  The result is a fantastic book that I highly recommend.