PHOTOGRAPHY BY PETER MATHER
ON THE WALL
of Chuck Hume’s cabin on the bank of the Klukshu River in southwestern Yukon hangs a photograph of a dominant male grizzly bear the locals called the “Mayor.” The photo was taken by Whitehorsebased wildlife photographer Peter Mather, who, with special permission from the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, documents the grizzlies along the Klukshu using remote camera-trap technology.
Hume, a Champagne Elder in Klukshu, first encountered the Mayor more than a decade ago, when the bear was about three years old, likely recently weaned from his mother. As Hume watched the bear feasting on soapberries by the road, a truck drove by and honked its horn to warn him, inadvertently spooking the bear towards him. Hume got in his truck and drove towards the village; the young bear followed.