The Bears of Kamchatka
Charles Russell looks out from the cabin he built near Kambalnoye Lake in Kamchatka. One of the bear cubs, who he saved but are now missing, walks nearby. (Yuri Kozyrev / For the Times)
Charles Russell and Maureen Enns walk in 1999 with three female bear cubs they saved after a hunter killed the bears’ mother. (Yuri Kozyrev / For the Times)
Charles Russell rests with the three bear cubs. (Yuri Kozyrev / For the Times)
Charles Russell with bear cubs Chico and Biscuit rest near the Kambalnoye Lake. (Alexi Maslov / For the Times)
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Yuri Slobodchikov, a former cattle farm worker from the village of Sokoch, shows off a salmon from an aluminum drum full of salted salmon hidden in a shed. Many fishermen in the region catch over the limit allowed them. (Sergi L. Loiko / For the Times)
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky is the capital city of the region. The Karyaksky Volcano can be seen in the background. (Sergei L. Loiko / For the Times)
Dobrynya, a huge brown bear, used to dominate the Tikhaya river in the Kronotsky Reserve before he disappeared two years ago. Naturalist Vitaly Nikolayenko had befriended the bear. (Vitaly Nikolayenko / For the Times)