Gordon Buchanan is rehabilitating six orphaned baby grizzly bears back to the wild in just nine months. Gordon joins the Pazhetnovs, a pioneering family of biologists in snowy Russia as they attempt to rehab grizzly bear cub orphans. There are over 100,000 grizzlies in Russia and, as humans encroach further into this vast wilderness, conflict is increasing. Every year hundreds of baby grizzlies are abandoned when their mothers are disturbed at their dens. The Pazhetnovs have been rescuing orphaned cubs for nearly three decades and have successfully returned over 200 of them back to the wild. Gordon arrives in February when six cubs have just been rescued. They are just five weeks old and each weighs less than a bag of sugar. The group is made up of three pairs of brothers. Slava and Pasha were dumped in a bin near Moscow and it is suspected that poachers killed their mother. Tolya and Tyoma were found in a box outside a vet's in St Petersberg. Zhenya and Zhora were handed in by loggers who scared their mum away. Working closely with world-renowned bear rehab expert Katya Pazhetnov, Gordon will try to get the cubs back to the wild in just nine months, but without a mother bear everything is stacked against the orphans.
Gordon Buchanan is rehabilitating six orphaned baby grizzly bears back to the wild - in just nine months. There are only ten weeks left before the bears are due to be released into the wilderness, but they are not ready yet. First, they must learn two essential bear survival skills, how to swim and how to forage. Most importantly, they also need to put on enough weight to survive the impending Russian winter alone. Without a mother bear to teach or feed them, it is down to Gordon and the Pazhetnov family of biologists to prepare the orphans for the harsh realities of bear life. For this vital part of their development, the Pazhetnovs have designed a special wilderness training zone just outside the enclosure, where they can experience the wild but return to the safety of the enclosure at any time. Gordon opens the gate and the biggest cub Zhora leads the group into the forest. Pasha, the smallest cub, eventually follows - he is the orphan the family are most worried about. Pasha is always at the back and last to feed at any foraging sites. As a result, he is struggling to put on weight. As the release date draws nearer, all the cubs undergo a series of challenges to check they are ready to survive in the wild, but will all six of them make it?
