Hidden camera brings bears of Alaska sanctuary to the world

ANCHORAGE — Only a lucky few humans are allowed each summer to get up close and personal with the McNeil River bears, but thanks to the wilderness equivalent of the "Big Brother" show, the animals can be seen around the world.

A "bear cam" set up in their favorite spot of the 114,400-acre McNeil River State Game Sanctuary shows them tussling over salmon, cooling off in the falls, sunbathing on the rocks and fattening up for the long Alaska winter.

The state holds a lottery for about 250 people each year to visit the sanctuary 250 miles southwest of Anchorage to view the bears. The Internet camera allows the less lucky to get a look, too, said Mike O'Meara, project manager for the Pratt Museum in Homer, across Cook Inlet from the sanctuary.

Information

The "bear cam" can be seen at: www.ngm.com/wildcamgrizzlies

The bear cam is turned on from 6 a.m. to midnight Pacific time and has eight presets to zoom in on where the animals are likely to be at any given hour. During the afternoon, an interpreter at the museum controls the solar-powered camera to get the best views.

In the peak weeks in July, the falls draw more brown bears than anywhere else in the world. The record was 72 observed at one time in 1999.

The camera is hidden in a fake boulder at the falls. The microwave signal travels from the camera to the museum through a series of repeater stations. From the museum, the video feed is relayed to servers in Seattle, and from there is published on the National Geographic Web site.

Two grants from the National Park Service foundation totaling about $40,000 and a $20,000 grant from the Mead Foundation paid for installing the bear cam and setting up the high-quality video and audio stream to the museum.

RealNetworks of Seattle contributed digitizing computers that allow the audio and video to be streamed onto the Internet.