The more we caught, the more it watched us. A side note—it is unsettling how fast a bear can move. At 900 lbs, a brown bear can hit 35 mph. For perspective, Usain Bolt’s top speed was 27.8 mph.

Vets had been waiting to observe how Boki would wake up to gauge the success of the surgery, the first of its kind on a brown bear. "He's looking brilliant, happy and healthy and we haven't seen ...