CHARLES VANDERGAW

Retired Teacher, Ex-Wrestling Coach and Bear Lover

 

Charles Vandergaw, 70, is a retired science teacher who lives with his wife in Anchorage, Alaska, but chooses to live six months of the year alone in a remote homestead he likes to call "Bear Haven." On his property, Charlie is at home with wild bears — literally. Black bears and grizzly bears routinely visit looking for food, and at any given time there might be half a dozen or more bears on the property.

The satiated bears succumb to Charlie's affections, often taking walks with him, allowing him to pet them and even sit astride them. Charlie's personal photographs show him playing with grizzly cubs and standing remarkably close to mating bears. On occasion, he has even nursed injured bears back to health.

Once a bear hunter, Charlie Vandergaw decided to hang up his gun after a life-changing encounter some 20 years ago, shortly after he retired from teaching in 1985. One summer's day a huge black bear appeared on his yard and crawled up to him on its belly. Charlie reciprocated by likewise dropping to his stomach and crawling toward the bear. It was the start of his long-lasting love affair with bears.

While feeding bears is illegal, Charlie had lived for 20 years with the bears without being ordered to stop, largely because Bush Alaskans (those who live outside the road system) accept odd behavior in their neighbors in the absence of serious problems. Charlie insisted that he understood the risks and felt safe with the bears. And remarkably, there were no adverse consequences to his actions. However, in recent years, Charlie reports having been swiped at and even knocked unconscious by large bears.

As evidenced by what happened to Timothy Treadwell, the self-proclaimed protector of grizzly bears to whom Charlie is often compared, even years of peaceful living with bears does not guarantee continued peacefulness. After living with grizzlies for 13 years, Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were killed by a bear. In distinguishing himself from Treadwell, Charlie points out that Timothy was living in the bears' territory, and that Charlie's bears come to his property and understand the distinction.

After he was knocked unconscious, Charles Vandergaw's friends grew concerned for his safety. Charlie recognized that his age was putting him at risk, and that the bears would no longer be able to roam freely at Bear Haven. At the end of the season in 2008, Charlie took the precaution of erecting an electric fence around his property to keep bears out when necessary (although he admits to occasionally letting in a single bear even when the fence is electrified). That same year, Alaskan officials finally asked that Charlie stop feeding the bears.

Charlie grew up in a rural corner of southern Oregon and moved to Alaska after college. He has been living there since.