The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek by Sid Marty
– available at Polar Peek Books & Treasures in Fernie
– Reviewed by Angie Abdou for The Fernie Fix’s July 2009 Issue

Sid Marty is a writer who needs no introduction in Western Canada, particularly in a town like Fernie. Since the publication of Men for the Mountains in 1978, his name has been synonymous with mountain culture. Much of his work has been dedicated to raising environmental awareness and stressing the importance of conservation. With his years of experience as a park warden in Rocky Mountain national parks, he knows whereof he speaks. You will find an authenticity and passion in his books that cannot be acquired by library research alone. His books have garnered many honours, most recently a Governor General’s Award nomination for The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek.

This latest of Marty’s books is like his others in its conservationist emphasis and its attempt to educate us dumb humans. The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek tells the story of the bear attacks in Banff, Alberta during the summer of 1980. The hunt for “The Whiskey Creek Mauler” made international headlines as the bear evaded park wardens and attacked five people during an eleven-day rampage. Marty examines these events with the goal of figuring out what went wrong and who was to blame. As Marty skillfully weaves his narrative, he wears many hats, including those of historian, journalist, ecologist, detective, and poet. Sometimes he even enters the mind of the murderous bear. 

In the end, almost everybody must carry the burden of responsibility for the tragic events of 1980. Everybody, that is, but the bear.  Marty blames a misguided culture. He quotes a favourite park slogan of the time: “Parks are for people.” His point, of course, is that parks are not for people. He highlights the stupidity and arrogance of this anthropocentric thinking, illustrating that the further we encroach upon the bear’s territory and influence its food sources, the more often we will experience tragic contact between humans and bears.

I need to warn you that Marty’s descriptions of bear attacks are horrifying. There is blood. There is gore. There are faces ripped wide open. I may never sleep in a tent again. At first, I thought I might never sleep again period. However, the whole while that Marty is relaying these scenes of horror, he is also reminding us that worse atrocities have been committed by man. In fact, he tells us, bears are not so bad; statistically, the most dangerous animal (by far) is the domesticated dog. Do not demonize the bear, he reminds us repeatedly, because for any violence that species has committed ours has committed far worse.

What I most admire about this book is the way it forces readers to shift perspective. Originally, I was leery about Marty pretending to see things from the perspective of the bear. Wasn’t this the worst kind of anthropomorphism? How could Marty pretend to know how a bear would think? Now, though, I realize that to do his job, he had to learn to think like a bear. I also realize that, for the bear’s sake and for our own, we would all do well to strive for such empathy. Marty plays games with perspective – giving us a jolt now and then, just enough to rock us off our own human-centered viewpoint and remind us that we share the earth, it is not ours.  The bear is not the enemy here. We are the enemy. 

This material is heavy, obviously. There is a lot of very powerful, stirring invective, passages in which we are urged to confront our own gluttony. There is, however, also plenty of humour—mostly at the expense of parks’ officials and “gorbies” who attempt to summit mountains in their street shoes. My favourite comic anecdote is the one about the administrator who claimed that there was no reason to assume that Canadian bears would behave in the same aggressive manner as American bears. You’ll want to be on the right side of these jokes—Marty’s comedy comes with a razor sharp edge.  If you find yourself thinking “he’s not laughing at me, he’s laughing with me,” you’re wrong.

In case you need another reason to read The Black Grizzly of Whiskey Creek – Sid Marty will be in town for the Fernie Writers Conference from July 19-26, and he’ll be speaking in downtown Fernie at an event open to the public on at least one of those nights (schedule to be announced).  So, go to Polar Peek and get your copy now. If you read it before the third week in July, you’ll have the rare opportunity to address your questions directly to the author. That’s an opportunity worth taking advantage of. I look forward to being there to participate in the discussion.