On Jan 2010, I received an email from Genevieve Hamelin from France saying that she would like to write a book about bears. This is one of her email to me:
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Hello Wong
Thank you very much for your quick answer. I have to explain to you exactly what I am doing. I am a French librarian in a school and I live in the west of France. I love bears and I yet made a website about them that you can see here :
http://www.surlespasdesours.fr/?lng=en
I wanted to write a book about bears for youth and people who like them.
My book will be published in april and if I want to add an article I have to do quickly to send it to the publisher before the end of the next week.
The title is “On the steps of bears” . The first part is on the imaginary of bears and the second one about the eight species of bears we can find through the world.
A friend of mine made the drawings and some associations of protection send me pictures of bears in their biotope and a text to explain their action.
For the sun bears , I found your address on the jeanett mc Dermott’s blog and it’s the reason why I wrote to you. I wrote a part of my book on the description of the sun bears, their reproduction and also their geographical repartition but in France we have not a lot of information about their conservation.
The book will be in French so I will have to translate your text into French before to send it to my publisher. Of course when the book will be published I will send you one specimen. It’s with pleasure.
Thanks a lot Wong
I am waiting for your answer
Cordially
Geneviève
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On October 2011, Genevieve’s “On the steps bears” finally published. My copy that she sent me reached me few days ago! It was a well written book. Now the French speaking folks are learning about sun bears and the works of BSBCC!
Thank you Genevieve! Congratulation on your job well done!
You can read more about the book written in a French’s news at:
http://www.angersmag.info/Genevieve-Hamelin-se-mobiliser-pour-la-sauvegarde-des-ours_a3591.html
Livres
Geneviève Hamelin : se mobiliser pour la sauvegarde des ours
Par Catherine Nedelec – le 27 Octobre 2011 à 11:54
Geneviève Hamelin, documentaliste dans un collège d’Angers, s’intéresse depuis des années à la sauvegarde des animaux sauvages, notamment de l’ours, son animal fétiche. « Sur les pas de l’ours » vient de paraitre ; avec ce livre magnifiquement illustré, elle souhaite sensibiliser le plus grande nombre à la condition de ces plantigrades et au risque de leur disparition.
Geneviève Hamelin est très sollicitée par les associations de sauvegarde des animaux sauvages.
Figure emblématique de l’Arctique, l’ours polaire est désormais le symbole d’un monde qui subit durablement les effets du réchauffement climatique. Le bien nommé ours blanc est ainsi le plus connu. Il existe pourtant sept autres espèces, tout aussi menacées d’extinction à cause d’un environnement qui se transforme à leur désavantage, de chasseurs de trophées ou de braconniers, agissant à des fins alimentaires si ce n’est pour la médecine chinoise traditionnelle.
Arctophile, Geneviève Hamelin a franchi depuis longtemps la simple passion de l’ours en peluche. Elle a voulu en savoir plus sur l’animal, le vrai, qui a servi de modèle à ces adorables peluches. Opposé à l’image du jouet proche et docile, l’ours, animal sauvage, plutôt agressif, a passionné Geneviève Hamelin par son authenticité. Ce livre est pour elle une manière pédagogique d’expliquer la souffrance de cet animal et la diminution inexorable du nombre déjà restreint de ces plantigrades.
Bien qu’enrichi de photos expressives et de très beaux dessins de Laurence Saunois, ce livre n’est pas qu’un livre d’illustrations, en témoigne un texte nourri par une recherche documentaire efficace et une sensibilité due aux moments intenses vécus auprès des ours. La passion et la curiosité ont entrainée Geneviève Hamelin au parc national de Katmaï, en Alaska, il y a un peu plus d’an, sur les pas de l’ours brun.
Durant ce voyage au confort rudimentaire et entièrement consacré à l’observation des grizzlis au moment de la remontée des saumons, elle a appris à reconnaitre leur pelage, leurs cicatrices, à les respecter – ne pas s’approcher de plus de 50 mètres d’un mâle et de 100 mètres d’une femelle accompagnée de ses petits -, à étudier leur vie sociale, l’attitude d’ « une mère qui sait être attentive, ayant toujours une regard protecteur sur sa progéniture veillant à ce qu’un mâle n’approche pas ses oursons ».
Ce « spectacle inoubliable » a renforcé sa conviction qu’il faut agir et éduquer. Soutenue par l’IFAW ( International Fund for Animal Welfare), Geneviève Hamelin a recueilli de nombreux témoignages d’autres fondations et associations, « souvent méconnues et pourtant très actives », qui œuvrent quotidiennement à la sauvegarde des ours, autant qu’ à leur réintroduction dans leur milieu naturel. Entre autres scientifiques, Siew Te Wong en Malaisie, Denis Alexander Torres au Venezuela, Jill Robinson en Asie, Lynn Rogers dans le Minnesota, Valentin Pazhetnov en Russie, ont apporté leur témoignage à ce que ce dernier nomme « un immense défi », visant « la préservation de notre seul et unique habitat : la planète Terre ».
Sur les pas de l’ours contient de multiples références utiles pour se documenter encore davantage sur le sujet.
En librairie – 18 €
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I know most of you did not read French so I “google translate” the news article. Please do not blame me for the bad translation.
Geneviève Hamelin: mobilizing to save the bears
Geneviève Hamelin, librarian at a college of Angers, looks for years to the preservation of wildlife, including bears, the animal fetish. “In the Footsteps of the Bear” comes to seem, with this beautifully illustrated book, she wants to educate the largest number on the condition of the plantigrade and the risk of their disappearance.
Emblematic figure of the Arctic, the polar bear has become the symbol of a world undergoing long-term effects of global warming. The polar bear is aptly named as the best known. But there are seven other species also endangered because of environmental changes to their disadvantage, trophy hunters or poachers, acting for food except for traditional Chinese medicine.
Arctophila, Geneviève Hamelin has taken a long time passion for the simple teddy bear. She wanted to know more about the animal, the real, which served as a model for these adorable stuffed animals. Opposed to the image of the toy closer and docile, bear, wild animal, not aggressive, a passionate Geneviève Hamelin with its authenticity. This book is a pedagogical way for her to explain the suffering of the animal and the inexorable decline of the already limited number of plantigrade.
Although expressive images than enriched and beautiful drawings by Laurence Saunois, this book is not a book of illustrations, text fed evidenced by an effective retrieval and sensitivity due to the intense moments lived with bear. The passion and curiosity have entrained Geneviève Hamelin Katmai National Park, Alaska, there is a little over a year, in the footsteps of the brown bear.
During this trip to the comfort and rudimentary entirely devoted to the observation of grizzly bears during the salmon, she learned to recognize their coats, their scars, to respect them – stay away from over 50 meters of male and 100 meters of a female accompanied by her young – to study their social life, the attitude of “a mother who knows how to be attentive, always a watchful eye on his offspring ensuring that a male does not approach her cubs.”
The “unforgettable” reinforced his belief that we must act and educate. Supported by IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare), Geneviève Hamelin has documented numerous other foundations and associations, “often overlooked yet very active,” working every day to safeguard the bear, so far as their reintroduction into the wild. Among other scientists, Siew Te Wong in Malaysia, Denis Alexander Torres Venezuela, Asia Jill Robinson, Lynn Rogers, Minnesota, Valentin Pazhetnov in Russia, have testified that it calls “a huge challenge,” aimed ” the preservation of our single habitat: Planet Earth. “
In the footsteps of Bear contains many useful references to further documentation on the subject.
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