Charlie Vandergaw - The man who lives with bears

Charlie Vandergaw is not your average retired high school teacher.

At the end of every winter he leaves his wife and the comforts of his detached home to live side by side with the wild bears of Alaska.

The former science teacher lives in a remote wooden cabin for six months of the year in an attempt to make friends with the black and grizzly bears who live in the surrounding forest.

Charlie began building his cabin, known as Bear Haven, more than 20 years ago. It stands in Yentna Valley hundreds of miles from the nearest road or shop and can only be reached by plane.

The 68-year-old has no means of communicating with the outside world or the wife of 40 years he leaves at home, but he is not alone.

Every morning dozens of black bears surround Bear Haven waiting for breakfast. Walt, a 500lb black bear named by Charlie, even wanders into his home to say good morning.

Charlie said: "Walt has been coming for six years. If I can control him in here and keep him from tearing things up then I'll let him in."

But Charlie has not always been so keen on the wild creatures and once spent his days hunting them.

He said: "I spent a lot of time hunting bears and every time I saw a bear it was just a little bit more exciting than the time before.

"I think a lot of the mystique of bear hunting is that you're hunting a huge dangerous predator."

He recalls the first time he came face to face with a bear on the doorstep of the home he had just finished building.

"I got up one morning and went outside and there was a bear standing there looking at me," he said."The longer he stood there the more frightened I became. I finally picked up a stick and threw it at him and ran him off."

Slowly Charlie's fear turned into fascination and he began filming the bears. He said: "I just started noticing that more and more bears were coming out of the forest watching me.

"The more I was around bears the more I realised there was something more than just a vicious wild animal."

One bear in particular caught Charlie's eye.

He said: "She was the cutest grizzly I ever saw and her brother was the most beautiful. He was almost white.

"She just was very timid at first but I could see she was lonely. She just liked to play and I'd feed her."

Charlie became so fond of the bear it wasn't long before he took their relationship to a new level.

He said: "Every time she approached me she'd drag herself on her belly. "One day I decided I would be fair about the whole thing. I got down and dragged myself to her. The first thing that touched was our noses.

"She eventually let me feed her out of my hand."

Before long Charlie developed the confidence to forge relationships with bigger and more dangerous bears. "I'm just getting more and more comfortable being in the presence of them," he said.

While Charlie is living with the bears his wife Lanette is home alone for a six month stretch without so much as a phone call.

She said: "Sometimes it would be nice to have him home doing things but we get it done. "Some years are worse than others for being separated but absence makes the heart grow fonder and I guess that's the way you have to look at it because that's the way it's going to be for a while."

Despite Lanette's loneliness Charlie is adamant he will not stop living with the bears.

He said: "It's going to take an awful lot for me not to want to come out here. It's too beautiful and peaceful."

Returning home from the solitude of his cabin is something of a culture shock for Charlie. "I've been lucky enough to build a place somewhere I can find solitude. I kind of get out of touch with reality.

I lose track of what's going on in the world but you can always get a newspaper. "It's more depressing every year I get older I see what a mess the world is in."

Charlie realises the dangers of his lifestyle but believes that feeding the bears makes them less likely to attack. "You have to understand the number of years of experience I've had," he said.

"I think you prevent the possibility of an attack just by being observant. Of course saying all that I could get chewed on tomorrow."

Feeding bears is illegal in Alaska but despite warnings from the authorities Charlie refuses to stop.

News of a fellow bear expert being mauled to death by a grizzly fails to deter him either.

Timothy Treadwell had camped with the bears every summer for 13 years until they turned on him and his girlfriend without warning. Their half-eaten bodies were discovered yards from their tent.

Charlie acknowledges a single bear has the power to kill him but refuses to accept it will happen to him. He describes living with the bears as a turn on.

He said: "I do not consider what I do to be even remotely similar to what Timothy Treadwell did.

"I have tried hard not to invade the bears space. They are coming in here and entering my space.

"I think most people try to do something that turns them on and gets them away from the every day humdrum of our existence. I've just taken it over the edge. I find this to be exhilarating.

"Sometimes I even forget they're bears. If they wanted to attack me I wouldn't stand a chance but they don't want to."

Charlie's words are short lived as Kooky, a female grizzly bear he has been trying to befriend, attacks him badly hurting his hand.

He said: "I took the bears out to feed them. I got lazy and didn't disperse them. I fed them all in a big pile. I thought I'd sit with the grizzly and she just nailed me, grabbed me by the hand and yanked me off my feet. That was the end of the fun.

"I'm lucky she didn't ruin my hand. It's by far the worse bite I've ever gotten. They stitched it up inside and then closed it on the outside."

Despite the attack Charlie refuses to give up his lifestyle. He said: "She knows she can boss me around by biting at me but I'm trying not to let what happen colour my attitude.

"I think I'll spend the rest of my life nurturing the bears. They have a way of looking at me that makes me wonder if all men couldn't get along with bears if they could just have a chance to spend some time with them."

Film crews followed Charlie for the Channel 5 documentary The Man Who Lives With Bears.