Bob Windsor has spent the last six years keeping the streets safe in the arctic town of Churchill—or at least trying to. Even with less than a dozen blocks to protect, the Manitoba conservation officer and his small staff are heavily outnumbered. That’s because every November hundreds of culprits stalk the town and its 800 residents.

Perps are hungry, disoriented, and sometimes very aggressive—and weigh half a ton. Welcome to the polar bear capital of the world. The animals gathering in Canada’s far north are waiting for Hudson Bay to freeze. The return of the sea ice enables the ursus population to resume hunting their favorite meal: seals. But until then, they’re landlocked, and attracted to the sinful smells of civilization. And as the rapacious bears encroach, the salt-and-pepper haired Windsor leads the first line of defense of the .

We rode shotgun to see what it’s like policing the arctic.

OUTSIDE: What’s a typical day in the life of a polar bear beat cop like?
Windsor: Usually starts off with a patrol to see if there’s any bears in town. The chance of a bear coming into town is pretty good; hard part is seeing it in weather like this.

Tell me about your hardware. What do you carry to keep the bears away?
I’ve got a scare pistol. Screamer cartridges go into the barrel, makes a big screaming sound, and it’s a visible one, sparkling as it goes. We use that if a bear’s really close. Next would be my shotgun, our most commonly used tool. Cracker shells shoot about 75 yards, then explode. You don’t want to put the exploding part past the bear, because you may chase him back towards you. You want to aim a little higher so it explodes above them.

With the shotgun, on my bandelier, [these] green cartridges are rubber bullets. If a bear’s close, and not responding to sound, that’s an option to get them moving. I like paintballs better than rubber bullets. Rubber bullets are $6 apiece. Their range: maybe 35 yards. After that, good luck hitting anything. Paintballs are really cheap, range-wise a little better, and you can just let them rip. On the bottom of my bandelier are red cartridges. Those are rifle slugs for me to protect myself.

Have you had to use that?
I’ve had to shoot two bears. I was hoping to go my whole time without having to, but there are moments when it’s necessary.

Tell me what it’s like shooting at a bear.
Last November there was an attack in town. Two people were very seriously injured. I was first on scene, and I ended up shooting the bear. Our policy is if a person is killed or mauled, we permanently remove the bear. There was another attack last September where we didn’t find the bear that night, but we caught him in a trap the next morning. That bear is at the zoo now, permanently removed, but not killed.

Have you seen bears on the road we’re on right now?
Within town,��there isn’t a road or an area I haven’t seen a polar bear. There’s times we’ll chase a bear from town, it ends up on this road, and we drive behind it and push it out of town. The majority of the bears we deal with, that’s what we do. If there’s one in or near town, just traveling down the coast, the town is basically in its way. And if it’s heading north, we’ll just help it continue in that direction. Our program is broken down into three zones. Zone One is the town, and that extends about a third of a mile east of town. Any bear within Zone One is removed immediately.

Tell me about the polar bear jail.
opened in 1980. Over 1,400 bears have been through since then. There are 28 cells; two are double-sized. We reserve those for family groups; little bigger area, less stress. Five cells have air-conditioning, so if we have to hold a bear in the warmer months that keeps them comfortable. As of today, we have 15 bears in the facility. Normally we have the 30-day rule. Zone One bears we hold on average 30 days. Exceptions would be perennial problem bears. We dart them before they get to town so they don’t have the chance to break into buildings or do the nasty things they like to do.

How many calls do you get on an average day?
The most I’ve gotten is 22. One night last year between 5 P.M. and 2:30 A.M. we had 12 calls. In an average year we do about 300 occurrence reports. Once we got a call, and there were five bears we had to deal with in that time before we went home. Then you go home and it’s a matter of minutes before the phone rings again. The town is tourism-based, so it’s great when there are bears around, as long as nobody gets hurt.

Have officers been hurt in the line of work?
Not by a bear. The main priority is safety from bears, the next is the welfare of bears from people. Another is protection of human property, prevention of bears from becoming habituated to humans and human food sources.

Do tourists make your job harder?
Most are with guides looking out for their welfare. We do get some tourists without a clue how dangerous these animals are, or how to remain safe. There’s definitely a bigger chance of something going wrong when there’s more people around. The more people, the greater the chance of an attack.

What was the scariest moment you’ve ever had?
The attack last year. The call I took I hope no one has to take again, including myself, and it was a lady screaming. When I rolled up, the bear was on the street and I could see there was blood all over its mouth. Dealing with a bear, that part is easy, but knowing that somebody’s hurt sticks with you. Every time the bear phone rings now, it’s not, “Oh good, there’s a bear call.” Now there’s apprehension. You hope it’s not somebody screaming about an attack.

How much longer do you see yourself doing this?
Well, it was a three-year posting. This is year six. The biggest challenge is media. We’ve had about 25 requests for a reality show series this year alone, for people to be embedded with us, but we said no. For the last month, almost half of each day’s media-related. Some of my staff are mad at the constant cameras, so I hear it from them, then try to soothe them and tell some people to lay off.

But the bear work I enjoy. This is the most unique district in our province, that’s why I wanted to come here. It’s like I tell my wife: I didn’t want to sit back in a rocking chair one day and say I wish I would have. And I don’t have to say that, because I’m here doing it.

Watch a livestream of Manitoba’s polar bears, courtesy of , , and :

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The Tururukari-Uka tribe will not go extinct under Francisco Uruma’s watch.

During this summer’s FIFA World Cup in Brazil, Uruma and his extended family to the tribe’s plot of land outside Manaus, hoping to kickstart an ecotourism business that could help the community balance heritage and modernity in the Internet age. But can their way of life be preserved—and is tourism the right way to do it?

Uruma’s grandfather, Waldomiro Cruz, devoted his life to protecting the region’s remaining Kambeba tribes, fighting for land rights and rekindling their legends in the face of modernization. Now the survival of the tribe rests with 35-year-old Uruma. “I want every child to adapt and be prepared for today’s world,” he says.

That’s challenging when even basic needs aren’t always met. “The government doesn’t know our reality,” Uruma said. “We have basic desires. Water. Health. Education.” Last year, the young chief represented 10 regional tribes in Brasilia, lobbying lawmakers for more land and better services. “I met people who share the same vision. I learned how we can take matters into our own hands.”��

For Uruma, securing basic needs means transforming his village into an ecotourism start-up. With support from Guedes and the Amazonas state tourism agency, Uruma and his tribal counsel are preparing the village—and building a website—to welcome paid visitors to the tribe beginning in November. The goal is for each of the tribe’s 15 families to earn $500 per month from tourist fees and the sale of merchandise and services.

Uruma has modeled that adaptability by working with a man he calls “Professor”—, an executive coach from Manaus who has spent the last two years preparing the young chief to preserve an ancient culture in one of the most rapidly changing regions in South America.

“This is the only tribe in Brazil—and possibly the only tribe in the world—that has enlisted the help of leadership coaching,” Guedes said. “We focus on improving Francisco’s interpersonal skills, his self-awareness, his self-motivation, and his ability to respond to new situations.”

In June, I accompanied Guedes on a visit to the Tururukari-Uka village outside Manaus to watch Brazil and Cameroon play a World Cup match on satellite TV. After an hour-long bus ride north of the capital, we took a dirt road to a lakeshore. Guedes stood at the water’s edge, cupped his hands to his mouth, and hollered into the jungle. From the forest we heard the faint response of a World Cup noisemaker. A few minutes later, two boys in a canoe paddled through the trees and we climbed aboard.

“These boys are 10 years old,” Guedes said as the boys steered us to their waterside community. “At the age of 9, they are men. There is no adolescence here.”

After hundreds of years of nomadic life, the Tururukari-Uka settled here in 2004 when the elder chief persuaded local authorities that the tribe needed a stable home so their children could get a better education. Their plot of land is about the size of seven soccer fields (including one actual soccer field) where the 56-person tribe farms, hunts, and fishes for sustenance. In a grass-roofed schoolhouse at the center of the village, the children learn traditional subjects like math and geography alongside the Kambeba language and ancestral legends.

Generating their livelihood independently of other tribes will allow the Tururukari-Uka tribe to preserve the integrity of their own language and culture. Over time, he wants to invite up to 50 visitors per day to sample their food and drink, witness their dance and music, buy artisanal crafts–even have their marriage vows renewed by a shaman.

Watching the game with the tribe, I felt an awkward mix of wonder and trespass, hanging out in their open-air living room to feast on slow-roasted fish, drink fresh-squeezed passion fruit, and bang drums to celebrate Brazil’s goals. At intermission the children performed dances and songs and demonstrated their prodigious ability to climb trees. I couldn’t help but wonder where Uruma’s culture ended and Guedes’ coaching began. Then the match resumed and we returned to our seats in front of the TV.

“I know,” Guedes said, looking almost apologetic. “They can show you more than 20 different things about Kambeba culture, and here we are watching soccer. But the World Cup has been a good warm-up for them. A chance to see what it’s like to have visitors.”

Those gathered around the television seemed to be enjoying the new experience, especially the children, but this was a highly curated visit. While most of the tribe seemed to be rallying around Uruma’s vision, it’s hard to say how attitudes might change once the novelty wears off. Walking around the village, I noticed at least one member of the tribe watching the game in the privacy of his own house, decidedly uninterested in entertaining.

As the match disintegrated into a blowout, my wonder turned to worry. To ensure his tribe’s future, Uruma is being urged to sell a romanticized vision of the past that’s not always authentic. What are the consequences of asking these children not only to learn their culture, but also to perform it for outsiders? To complicate matters, the Brazilian government wants more—not less—ecotourism. In September,��Guedes travelled to Boston to deliver a conference presentation on his progress with the Tururukari-Uka, arguing that his methodology is replicable in other indigeneous communities. By this time next year, thousands of their pictures could materialize on the social networks of the world, hashtag Indians hashtag Amazon hashtag wow. Will filtered and tagged tourist pics be the last evidence of this ancient way of life?

Guedes and Uruma will tell you that the benefits outweigh the potential consequences, but you have to wonder what conversations take place in private between Uruma and his grandfather. What rituals are not for sale?

When Brazil scored its fourth goal, the cheering tribe passed around a basket of popcorn. I had a second helping of fish, played a game of soccer with the kids, and set my worries aside for a while as the sunset filtered through the trees. I’ve seen the theme park version of tourism in the Amazon–piranha fishing contests and Cayman night hunting and rubber tapping to make condoms–homogenized thrills that usually line the pockets of corporate operators in Manaus.

Uruma’s vision is to showcase the daily life of a single tribal group—his family—and if there proves to be an appetite for that experience, the profits will go directly to his loved ones in this village. Yes, in a perfect world, the tribe could sustain itself on exactly its own terms, but maybe ecotourism is a step toward that world. When Uruma talks about Kambeba culture, he talks not about the past, but about the future.

“The way of life is different now,” Uruma says. “When they leave the tribe to study, it’s hard for them to come back and become farmers. Our vision is for our children to go to the city and show people our way of life, to learn how to become doctors and teachers and lawyers, then come back and help our tribe in other ways.”

So far, two young members of the Tururukari-Uka tribe have gone on to attend university. Márcia Kambeba recently graduated from the University of Amazonas with an M.A. in history and now lives at the mouth of the Amazon in Belém, where she has formed a musical group that recites poetry and sings songs of Kambeba culture. At this moment, Adana Kambeba is in medical school at the Federal University of Minas Gerais and hopes to return to Amazonas to practice indigenous medicine.

“Our culture will not fall into oblivion,” Uruma says. “20 years from now, when my grandchildren are alive, I don’t want them to know their people through books.”

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Journalist Benoit Denizet-Lewis judges people by whether they love dogs. He has, however, struggled to accept that dogs can love people back. Compelled to understand the canine-human bond, Denizet-Lewis and his yellow Labrador, Casey, jumped in an RV and drove around the country to meet various dogs and their humans. The result? : A funny and insightful survey of the highs and lows of dog life.

���ϳԹ��� caught up with Denizet-Lewis to hear him reflect on the journey, the novel, and the state of his relationship with Casey.

OUTSIDE: What were you most interested in regarding the state of America’s relationship with its dogs?
DENIZET-LEWIS: I have been a dog lover my whole life, and I was interested in the different kinds of relationships that people have with their dogs. For example, the relationship a homeless person in Seattle has with his dog; is that relationship different from that of a rancher in Colorado who relies on his border collies to move cattle? Is that different from a debutante in L.A. who scoots her dog around in a baby stroller?

Also, I was interested in exploring the incredible variety of roles that dogs play in American life. I mean, they help our cops, they fight our wars, they help our sick get better, they help our injured live their lives and get around, they help lonely people living by themselves feel some connection to something.��

You’ve always worried that Casey doesn’t really like you. Why’d you think an RV trip might help you deal with that?��
I wondered whether I was the right fit for my dog. I worried that I wasn’t giving my dog everything that he deserved or should have for a happy life. I wanted to get on the road and have almost four months devoted entirely to getting to know my dog in a real way.

How did Casey come into your life?
I’m 39 now, and Casey’s 11. When I was 28, I wanted a dog, but I really didn’t know anything about dogs. I was living in the city at the time, and I saw this ad in the paper for puppies for sale at a house in the suburbs. I later realized that Casey was very likely a puppy mill dog; I’d read in the paper that some dogs got sick at the house. Thankfully,��Casey turned out to be fine.��

You spent time rescuing strays and touring animal shelters. Did that make you take a critical look at what it means to buy versus adopt pets?��
Yes. I saw so many stray dogs roaming every corner of this country; I would never buy a dog again. I’m not one of those people who’s going to make people feel guilty if they choose to get a purebred dog. But personally, I urge my friends to go to shelters, to rescue dogs off shelter kill lists, to volunteer at shelters. It was just astonishing to me how many stray dogs there are languishing in shelters.��

Where was the problem of stray or unwanted dogs most visible?
I spent a few days in East St. Louis, Missouri, which is the most dangerous neighborhood in America. I spent a few days on this trip rescuing dogs with dog rescuer Randy Grim in a ghetto there. Seeing these dogs injured and roaming in these forgotten, core parts of our country … I saw the same thing on Indian reservations.��

For people dealing with extraordinary poverty and hardship, taking care of dogs is not high on the list of priorities. And so you have hundreds of thousands of dogs that just roam, and very few of them live past four or five because they die of preventable illnesses.

What’s something about these dogs’ lives that surprised you?
Randy, the dog rescuer in East St. Louis, talked about how he won’t rescue some dogs because he’s convinced they’re happier living out with their pack than they would be in a home. We have a lot of misconceptions around what dogs need and what dogs want. People might see a homeless person and his or her dog and call Animal Control and say, ‘Oh, that poor dog is living on the street.’ Well, I found that homeless dogs are actually some of the most well-adjusted and happiest around, as long as they can get medical care. They are pretty much always outside, and always with their owner. What better life for a dog?��

You adopted a rescue mid-trip. What was that like?��
I’ve never felt more alive than when I’m rescuing a dog. I even joked with Randy that I wanted to quit my job as a writer and just rescue dogs with him. There’s such an amazing feeling of helping a dog that’s injured or badly neglected.��

The dogs we found included skinny pit bulls that weren’t getting fed. When we found them, they came up to us and were just the sweetest things; they desperately wanted a new chance at life. I also rescued dogs that had been beaten or injured and dogs that had been involved in dog fighting. We saw so many, but you can’t rescue all of them. That’s the hardest part.��

How did you and Randy decide which dogs to save?��
Randy has to figure out if he has space in the shelter, if he’ll be able to find a foster home, if he has enough vets to deal with these dogs. He ends up having to make these really difficult decisions. You look at these dogs and you say ‘Okay, do I take this one because it’ll only survive a few more weeks if I don’t find him again…’��You almost have to try to read their minds.

I didn’t intend to rescue a dog from an Indian reservation. I just pulled over for gas and a Milky Way. There was this pack of four strays, one of which stayed close to me and really seemed like she belonged there the least. It was difficult to leave the other three behind, but it was a risk even to take the one. She was very timid at first, but she turned out to be just an amazing dog. I named her Rezzy—not very original, I know, but continues the tradition of naming rescue dogs by where you found them. There are a lot of dogs called Freeway.

After learning about all the reasons it’s tough to be an American dog, did you feel that maybe you weren’t screwing up Casey’s life?
Yes, I think that’s true. But I even struggled when I picked up Rezzy. Part of me was like, who am I to just come in here and decide that this dog is unhappy? Does this dog even want to go in an RV with me for the next three months, or is she part of this pack?��

I don’t necessarily believe that any dog that’s living outside in a pack is miserable. But I do know the stats on these dogs: they tend not to live long. I found out later when I took Rezzy to the vet that she had a pyometra, which would have been fatal in about two weeks. So it was fortunate.

What made you think Casey didn’t love you?
Casey is really good at looking, well, sort of miserable. He’s really good at sighing. He likes to sigh a lot if he’s not being walked or fed or played with. And he gets more excited sometimes about seeing my friends than he does about seeing me. He’s also not a very physical dog in the sense that, while he likes roughhousing, he’s not the dog that’s gonna cuddle up against you in bed.

For a lot of people, a dog is the one being in life that is happy to be with you, right? I mean, that’s why dogs are so popular— they don’t talk back, and they stick around. That said, it was interesting to see that I certainly wasn’t the only one whose dog brought out insecurities—although I was the only one who worried about not giving my dog the best life possible.

Did you meet anyone whose approach to dogs didn’t make any sense to you?
I was fascinated by several women I met who claimed that the quality of their love for their dog was the same as the quality of their love for human children. I would ask: ‘Well what if your human child died? Would that be the same as if your dog died?’ and they insisted that, yes, it would be. As much as I love my dog, I know that I would mourn a family member or human friend differently than I would a dog.

What about people who don’t, or can’t, have that close relationship with their dog?
I was interested in people who have dogs that are supposed to work—on farms, as sled dogs. These are dogs that cannot be spoiled as much. A lot of humans really struggle with keeping that boundary.

In theory a working dog is happiest when it has a very clear job. These dogs know they’re not house dogs and don’t need constant human connection or attention, but people still struggle with that. They’re like, ‘Yeah, I sneak ’em food when I’m not supposed to,’ or ‘I let ’em sleep in the bed sometimes.’

We love dogs at ���ϳԹ���, especially when we’re exercising with them. Can you tell us about about your and Casey’s collective fitness exploits along the way?
We were constantly in nature, hiking along the Appalachian Trail and in Colorado. We also went dock jumping. Casey was not a natural at that at all. I had to cannonball into the water hoping that I would show him that it was safe, but he was scared by the drop into the pool. I also did yoga on the beach with my dog—something called Doga.��

How healthy is our relationship with dogs in this country?��
On one hand, we spoil our dogs and treat them like family members. On the other hand, hundreds of thousands of dogs are returned to shelters every day, dumped, given up on, mistreated, neglected. So I wanted the book to be realistic about that and not just be a story about how wonderful our dogs are, and how great their lives are, because that’s not true for every dog.

If I meet someone and they love dogs, I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt and just assume from the beginning that they’re a kind, nice, generous person. And then, you know, people can still prove you wrong. There are some people who love dogs that aren’t pleasant to other humans.

How did your relationship with Casey change because of the road trip?
Let’s put it this way: I’m aware now that it’s not Casey’s job to care for my emotional needs. As I start to sense myself projecting onto him, or being sad that he’s not a certain way, I catch myself and I rarely feel bad about it anymore.

So now, in the time we have left—he’s 11 and starting to slow down—my goal is just to appreciate him for the funny, goofy, friendly dog that he is and not put any more expectations on him. Some days he wants to cuddle, other days he doesn’t, and you know, that’s fine.

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On average, nearly 700 people die each year from extreme heat. It’s the most serious threat to your outdoor summer workout, but there are ways to reduce the danger—if you’re careful.

Heat stroke hits when your body’s thermoregulatory system gets overwhelmed and fails in extreme temperatures. When this happens, it doesn’t matter if you’re running or walking: you’re taking on heat faster than your body can release it.

“When you exercise in heat, there’s a little competition happening inside your body,” says Doug Casa, chief operating officer of the University of Connecticut’s Korey Stringer Institute, named for the Viking football player who died in a 2001 team practice from heat stroke. Your muscles, heart, and skin each desperately want to maximize blood flow, and in extreme heat, they’re forced to vie against one another for a finite amount of fluid. Muscles want to maintain performance, while the heart simultaneously strives to maintain ideal stroke volume without overworking itself.

Problems arise when the skin asks for more than its usual share, as it does when you exercise in heat. Your body only has four self-cooling methods: conduction, convection, radiation, and evaporation. “In 50-degree weather, the skin doesn’t need much blood flow, and the muscles and heart can be happy,” Casa says.

But when air temperatures range above your skin temperature—about 93 degrees—you instead absorb heat by the first three processes, and you’re left only with sweat evaporation. Often that does the trick, but it taxes the body’s limited fluid supply, particularly if you’re dehydrated (for every one percent body mass lost from dehydration, your temperature rises about a degree).

In humid areas like the Southeast, the saturated air negates the water-vapor pressure gradient needed to evaporate your sweat, which means you’re out of cooling options.

“Something’s going to have to give,” warns Casa. “Either you’re going to lower your intensity, or you’re going to have to somehow keep the sweat rate high.” But that has its limits. Your body can handle the critical threshold temperature of 105.5 for around 30 minutes before cell damage ensues and internal organs begin to fail.

You might notice the onset of headache, dizziness, nausea, or excessive fatigue, but often there’s no warning. “I had a heat stroke when I was 16, running the race of my life, and I felt nothing until my face planted on the track,” Casa says.

Like edema victims on Everest, the only cure is retreat: back off the intensity and cool down with shade or a cold drink. Better yet, keep heat stroke at bay by hydrating, shedding layers, and relegating outdoor workouts to the cooler mornings or evenings. It’s important, too, to acclimatize yourself to exercising in the heat with a slow transition over seven to ten days.

Even then, you’ll never run a half marathon in 90 degrees as well as you will in 60, Casa cautions. “People still need to realize that they have to back off, and you can’t have the same assumptions of how you’re going to perform.”

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It took six pairs of boots, 240 horseshoes, and 24 months for��Filipe Leite��to ride on horseback from Canada to Brazil. The cowboy traveled 10,000 miles through 10 countries to reach his home in South America, an epic journey that has earned him a spot in the��historic��,��an international association of equestrian explorers that requires its members to ride at least 1,000 continuous miles.��

We last caught up with Leite back in 2012, when he was only three states into his journey and about to cross the infamous and treacherous Million Dollar Highway in Colorado. Since then, the cowboy has snuck through jungles full of drug traffickers, ridden bulls, encountered endless bureaucratic obstacles, and experienced unending generosity on the trail. As he nears the final stretch of his journey, we asked him for an update.

OUTSIDE: Aside from countless miserable border crossings, what has been the most difficult part of the ride?
LEITE: Keeping my horses healthy. I have spent 24 hours a day, seven days a week with these animals for the past two years. As we made our way south, we created a bond only comparable to that of father and son. When I didn't have the basics to offer them, like water or a pasture to graze, it broke my heart. We crossed many countries where vets were extremely hard to find and medication for horses even more so. Keeping my animals healthy required me to work extremely hard and become a bit of a vet myself.

This Long Ride has also been full of dangers. We crossed paths with a grizzly in Montana. One of the horses (Bruiser) fell in a deep ditch in New Mexico. The other (Frenchie) was hit by a truck in Southern Mexico, and the third (Dude) walked into a cattle guard in Nicaragua—nearly breaking his leg. I remember having Dude's head on my lap after finally calming him down while he lay there with his front right hoof stuck in that cattle guard thinking I was going to lose him. These were by far the worst moments of the trip. These horses are an extension of my soul; they are my children, my heroes, my everything.

What type of schedule do you maintain to give the horses, and yourself, much-needed rest?
On a Long Ride like mine, there can be no set schedule. You must always listen to your horses and let them rest as they need it. I always try to ride no more than 30 kilometers [nearly 19 miles] daily and allow my ponies to rest for a day or two every four to five days of riding. This has been a good system for us. I have also stopped for a month at times in order to give them ample time to rest or recover from an injury.

Scariest moment of the ride?
Hearing a husband trying to kill his wife with five gunshots just outside my window in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I will never forget her yells of desperation as the gunfire silenced her pleas.

What about the loneliest moment of the trip?
The loneliest moment of the trip was crossing a mountain in southern Wyoming. I spent several days riding without seeing another human being. It was only the horses and I, and I had an extremely hard time finding water for them. I remember coming down that mountain into a town of 25 people, swallowing my tears. I ended up staying with an elderly gentleman who lives by himself in a ranch home. It's funny how life works out. It was one of the deepest connections I made on the journey.

You've traveled through jungles infested with drug traffickers��and passed through dangerous cities. Was there ever a time you've been afraid for your life or the life of your horses?
My entrance into Honduras from Guatemala was with the protection of a major Honduran drug lord. He not only rode with me but also hosted me in his fortress for two days. His house was in a little village in the mountains and sat behind high walls and a thick metal gate. His house was a mansion with plasma TVs, a home gym, and even a small petting zoo. While trying to sleep the first night, I kept imagining the shootouts and killings happening at the hands of the drug cartels in town nearby. Needless to say, it made it hard to get some shut-eye.

You've been posting video segments throughout your journey. Tell us how you film while riding alone, edit footage, and post updates while on the trail?
Filming my Long Ride has been extremely difficult! I have to get off my horse, set up the tripod and turn on the camera, get back on, ride by the camera, then go back to stop filming and fold up the tripod—all while making sure all three horses are watched after. My girlfriend, Emma Brazier, has helped me a lot in this aspect. The moments she has traveled with me, we have been able to capture moments I couldn't otherwise. The dispatches are edited in Nashville by OutWildTV. I'm very thankful for having such an amazing group of professionals behind me. It makes all the difference.

Most of your nights are spent camping in a tent. What key items have made this possible for two years?
My Leatherman is always on my belt. Other items include a one-burner stove for preparing dinner, my tent, sleeping bag, and peanut butter. I've also been carrying Naomi's ashes. In Colorado, a gentleman who hosted me asked if I would carry his sister's ashes to Brazil with me. He told me how she loved horses and adventure and had recently passed away. He felt as if faith brought me to his home and that Naomi had to go on one last ride. I have carried Naomi's ashes all the way to Brazil and will spread them in the field where the horses will be retired.

You're trying to pass through the largest rodeo in Latin America, the Festa do Peao de Barretos. Think you'll make it?
Definitely! Because I left from the largest rodeo in Canada, the Calgary Stampede, it has always been my goal to pass through Barretos. This past year, they began sponsoring my trip and are currently building a monument of the horses and I that will be forever in the rodeo grounds for people to visit. On August 23, I will ride into the rodeo's arena as more than 50,000 people watch from the stands. I imagine it will be a very emotional moment.

What are your plans for after you arrive?
I will retire my horses at my parents' farm in Espirito Santo do Pinhal, Sao Paulo, and work on a documentary on my ride. I will also be writing a book on my two-year journey from Canada to Brazil.

Can we expect to see a Journey America documentary from your travel?
Absolutely.

Catch all of Leite's Journey America videos at and follow along as he finishes his journey at @FilipeMasetti on and .

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Seeing a rhino in the wild is one of Africa’s quintessential safari experiences and a lump-in-your-throat moment for those lucky enough to realize the dream. This is what you came to the continent for, right?��

Maybe you’ll zoom in with your SLR camera and snap some great shots that you’ll edit later and share online with friends. Or perhaps you’ll take quick pics on your cell phone and post on Facebook or Instagram within minutes.

Either way, what you might not realize is that the second you share that photo online, you could be helping a rhino poacher find his next victim.

Finding Rhinos

The Hospitality Association of Namibia recently on its Facebook page of a sign hanging in a safari vehicle that reads: “Please be careful when sharing photos on social media. They can lead poachers to our rhino. Turn off the geotag function and do not disclose where the photo was taken.”

Geotagging is the process of automatically including geographic information in cell phone pictures. When you share your photos with others, the information is embedded within the photograph, and anyone with access to the Internet can extract that data from your picture.

Plug the longitude and latitude into Google Maps, for example, and you could discover the exact spot where the photo was shot, give or take a few feet. Combine that with the fact that rhinos are very sedentary and often hang out in the same general area for days at a stretch, and you have a potentially serious situation.

“If you’ve got a fresh GPS coordinate for a rhino—or you know where it’s going to water every night—it’s very easy to quickly find and poach it,” explains Chris Weaver, director of the for World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

Rhino poaching has dominated the news recently, as —all in an effort to sell the horns of the prehistoric mammals. Some believers of traditional Asian medicine think pulverized rhino horn will cure strokes, convulsions and fevers, among other ailments.

Though there is no scientific proof of such medicinal value, rhino horn is nonetheless highly prized—so much so that a single rhino horn can fetch $250,000 on the black market.

Faux Tourists

As more and more of the endangered rhinos are killed, conservationists and government officials in some parts of Africa have become extremely protective. In fact, they try not to discuss the animals publicly anymore.

“While Namibia would love to boast about its success with relocation of protected species into private parks and the growth of its rhino population and rhino tracking activities, unfortunately such positive news may draw poachers to our area,” said Gitta Paetzold, CEO of the Hospitality Association of Namibia. To combat this, several organizations have started educating travelers about how poachers can pluck GPS coordinates off photos that tourists post on social media sites.

Poachers can also examine your photos and identify markers in the background, such as a particular grove of trees or a mountain peak. And some , going on guided expeditions on game farms or in national parks. The first time this happened, in South Africa’s Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Park, two men killed a pair of white rhinos. The men were later arrested. It’s , where poachers killed a pair of one-horned rhinos in Kaziranga National Park.

Guides, of course, lead their visitors right to where the rhinos are, and the faux tourists may then snap photos without raising any suspicions. Would-be poachers or informants can then send a photo with a location tag to anyone or return to the spot later to seek out the rhino.

Weaver was recently exploring the Namibian desert with some guests when he came across a group of tourists who took an unusual interest in two white rhinos. They snapped more than the typical number of photos of the animals with their cell phones and spent more time with them than Weaver has observed during his 20 years working in Namibia.

“I’m thinking, how would a person know that they’re not just forwarding these photos on to China or Vietnam and saying ‘How much will you pay for information on this rhino?’” Weaver said. “Pass that on, and five minutes later, you’ll have an answer back: ‘I’ll give you X amount for that set of horns.”

It’s not a far-fetched proposition. In South Africa, for example, officials have become more vigilant about rhino tourism, documenting the names and visits of tourists. Weaver said he’s even heard of some spots where cell phones are forbidden on safari vehicles.

How You Can Help

Although visitor photos may inadvertently help poachers on occasion, there is a silver lining: travelers can actually be a huge aid to rhino conservation efforts, especially in Namibia where tour operators work with community members who value wildlife and work tirelessly to protect it.

“You as a tourist are actually making a difference,” WWF’s Weaver says, explaining that a portion of tour payments go toward community conservation efforts. “Your tourist dollars create long-term incentives for people to set aside habitat for wildlife and live with wildlife.”

To ensure you’re not aiding poachers with your travel photos:

• ��in the settings section of any smartphone you use to take photos.
• ��on photos previously shot.
• Be mindful of privacy settings on social media sites. if posting photos of rhinos, only share them with trusted contacts.
• Pay attention to fellow tourists. If you see someone acting out of the ordinary or hear a few too many questions about where rhinos are and how long they’ll stay there, alert national park staff or your guide. That person could be a poacher informant.
• Be wary of sharing too much information with overly interested people, such as taxi drivers or hotel staff. If a line of questioning gets too detailed about the location of an animal you saw that day, answer vaguely.

��about what WWF is doing to stop rhino poaching.

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There is “absolutely no doubt that animals love,” says Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and author of . What makes him so sure? Years of observing wolves, coyotes and other animals in their natural habitats.

“A long-term close relationship, commitment to another person,” Bekoff says. “You travel with them, you defend territory and food, you have a family, you miss one another while you’re apart.”

That loving behavior he observed is supported by an experiment detailed in a recent article in The Atlantic, “.” In the experiment, Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University collected blood samples from a dog and a goat after they played with one another. He then measured the animals’ levels of oxytocin, or “the neurochemical of love.”

The dog had a 48 percent increase in oxytocin, meaning it viewed the goat as a friend. The goat, however, was enraptured. “It had a 210 percent increase in oxytocin,” Zak explains. “At that level of increase, within the framework of oxytocin as the ‘love hormone,’ we essentially found that the goat might have been in love with the dog.”

And what of those animals that pair up for life, such as certain types of birds? Although penguins don't mate for life, they can sustain long-term relationships, says Dee Boersma, the cirector of the Magellanic Penguin Project at the University of Washington. One pair she observed was together for 16 years.

Boersma’s Ph.D. student Jeffrey Smith studies why female penguins, given the choice, will pick one male as her mate over another, but they have yet to pinpoint a reason. “We’re not sure if it’s a behavioral thing or if she sees a nest that she likes,” he says. Could this X factor be love?��

Boersma cites a story of seeming heartbreak among Galapagos penguins. When a male penguin disappeared, his mate remained in the nest waiting for him. Even when another male lured her away, she continued to return to the old nest.

“Was she pining away for her love?” Boersma asks. “She was distressed but was it love? With a bird brain is it the same as human love?” Perhaps not, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any less like love, just different.

“It’s not to say that dog love is the same as human love,” says Bekoff, “but your love might not be the same as mine.”

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By now, you’ve likely seen the photos. On the afternoon of July 3, a train paralleling Montana’s Clark Fork River derailed at Atherton Gorge, sending payloads of soybeans, denatured alcohol (not for drinking, this is the stuff ), and Boeing plane parts into the water—and into view of stunned outdoor enthusiasts.

While photographs of the failure made waves in international news, the accident was actually more spectacle than disaster. “Since the denatured alcohol and soybeans were contained, the damage is very temporary,” , fisheries manager of Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks told ���ϳԹ���. “There was really no impact.”

The , aren’t as conspicuous or visible as fuselages—they tend to be subtler, come on more gradually, and cause long term damage. Of the more-than 500,000 miles of rivers analyzed in the 2004 National Water Quality Inventory, the USEPA found that .

For the most part, the biggest threats to rivers are results of our attempts to control them. , constructed to retain water and create energy, damage downstream ecosystems, disrupt the flow of nutrient-rich silt, are aging, and have little water to hold back. As a result of damming and diversion—for agricultural, municipal, and residential use—some of the , requiring intensive cooperation between countries to maintain any flow at all.

We can damage waterways when we put them to use, but rivers get caught in the crossfire when we forget to include them in our plans, too. Fertilizer runoff is . The way watersheds are graded, this pollution, as well as stormwater runoff from cities, inevitably ends up in rivers and streams.

Groups like , , and —along with other watershed groups and the USEPA—spend lots of time and money restoring (or at least improving) rivers, but all it takes is one spill to send them right back to bad places.��

“From our perspective, this is a wake up call,” said Karen Knudsen, executive director of the . “As disturbing as this is, imagine if it’d been tankers full of crude oil, which are increasingly shipped through Missoula. We we lucky in this case that it was just airplane parts.”

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It all began with a deeply disturbed miniature donkey named Mac. One minute he’d cozy up to Laurel Braitman, author of , like a high school sweetheart. The next minute he’d chomp down on her exposed flesh like a deranged blind date.

Braitman, only 12 years old at the time, thought even then that Mac’s manic temperament seemed too bizarre to simply chalk up to normal donkey-ness. Today, Braitman is with a PhD in the History of Science from MIT, and her new book details the science and the psychology of mental illness in animals.

OUTSIDE: In your book, you say that animals experience complex emotions such as guilt, depression, and social anxiety. How can a deeper understanding of our pets help us better understand our own psychology?
BRAITMAN: Certain emotional states and problems are common across species. Take fear and anxiety. They help keep individuals safe in dangerous situations, but they can be problematic in situations where there is no real danger.

We also know that many of the same things you’d do to cheer up your dog—regular exercise, more time outdoors, stimulating surroundings, learning new skills—are likely to cheer up humans as well. The better we understand the emotional roller coasters that animals experience, the better we can understand our own emotions.

How are animals affected by mental illness and how can humans help?
From wombats to whales, animals suffer from OCD, PTSD, anxiety, phobias, mood disorders, and more. Many of these issues are healthy activities gone awry. For example, some OCD behaviors are extreme forms of grooming practices, like constantly licking paws.

Humans can help animals with these problems. I once owned a Bernese mountain dog named Oliver who hallucinated, suffered from crushing anxiety, and had canine compulsive disorder. We tried everything from behavioral training to more exercise to anti-depressants. You’ve heard of therapy animals—I was his therapy human. It was an incredibly rewarding experience. I helped Oliver and he helped me.

The film Blackfish (inspired by Tim Zimmerman’s article in ���ϳԹ���) set off a firestorm of debate around the effects of captivity on killer whales and the unpredictability of their interactions with humans. What are your thoughts on keeping large marine mammals in captivity and teaching them to perform?��
I’m thrilled that this is part of a national conversation—there is no justification for keeping orcas in captivity. I believe we should make our zoos and aquariums more humane, but in the long run I would like to see all facilities transformed into places where humans can interact with creatures who do not need to suffer in order to entertain us. As far as I can tell, children are bored by the pacing polar bear, but they are entranced by the pig who runs over to them to get his back scratched.

What’s your take on new-age pet care options such as doggie massages and kitty chakras? How can we tune into our pets’ emotions without going overboard?
There are plenty of products aimed at desperate pet owners. Your dog won’t feel more relaxed if his shampoo smells like lavender or his biscuits taste like lemongrass. Massage is another story: it’s been proven to help humans suffering from emotional distress, and as long as the animal doesn’t mind being handled, it can help him too. However, the best way to tune into your pets’ emotions is cheap and easy—spend quality time with them and pay close attention to any troubling changes in their behavior.

You earned a PhD in the history of science, yet many of your conclusions stem from intimate personal experiences with animals that were close to you. What role should the classroom play in teaching animal lovers about their pets’ emotions?
We should certainly learn about natural history, animal behavior, and even the neuroscience of emotion in school, but nothing compares to real-life experience. We need socialization time with animals to better understand them just like we need socialization time with people to learn how to behave and how to read their emotions.

How can prospective pet owners use your book to find the best possible companions for their families?
I hope my book helps people choose animal companions that they are unlikely to disappoint or be frustrated by. But honestly, just like when you first start dating somebody, chances are you won’t know they have a screw loose till it’s too late—that is, until you already love them. So if that’s the case, then I hope my book helps people feel less alone and more hopeful about their animals. As Darwin’s father told him, “Everybody is insane at some time.” Thankfully we can help each other heal.

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In short, yes. And, maybe, no. Tasers can be an effective method of non-lethal defense against cougars, ignoring other vital factors. But we’ll get to that. Before you head into the backcountry packing high voltage, you’ll want to know a few things about America’s misunderstood lion.��

Cougars once roamed vast swaths of North and South America before they were hunted nearly to extinction. Then, around the 1960s, conservation efforts and burgeoning populations of key prey, such as deer, rebounded their numbers, to a point. Aside from the occasional far-wandering individual, in North America the elusive Felis concolor—known also as the mountain lion, panther, puma, or catamount—ranges strictly in British Columbia, Alberta, the twelve western states, and Florida.

Cougars are survivors and opportunistic hunters. They’re also shy, and humans aren’t on the menu. If you’re a regular hiker in cougar country, especially around dawn or dusk, you’ve likely been watched or followed. Chances of escalating beyond that, however, are slim.

But attacks happen, if rarely. A , a wildlife ecology professor at Northern Arizona University, recorded only 53 attacks and ten human deaths since 1890. A handful more have occurred since. In a grisly encounter last September on Vancouver Island—where roughly 40 percent of attacks transpired—a man killed a cougar with a boar spear after it crushed his wife’s skull. The culprits are generally rabid or starving juveniles. And they’re certainly dangerous.��

So will a Taser stop a cougar? Yes, if you can get close enough and, more importantly, if your aim is true. Tasers fire two probes on 15- to 35-foot lines, and to be effective, both probes must hit. When they do, 5,000 volts jam the nervous system, causing temporary paralysis and a jolt of pain. As a last resort, the drive stun on the gun itself can inflict pain without incapacitating. Cougars, which can reach 200 pounds, are susceptible to both.��

Many cougar experts, though, find the question laughable. Beier points out that these cats are ambush hunters. “The first clue is claws or teeth on your body,” he says.

Zara McDonald, executive director of the , a wild cat conservation guild, thinks cougars are likely to be a tough target even if you do see them coming. “Their sensory perception, power, and reflexes blow away those of humans,” she explains. In other words, you’ll be hard-pressed to get that shot off.

Think of it as a last resort. According to Dan Thompson, the supervisor at ’s large carnivore section, standard protocol for a cougar encounter is simple: maintain eye contact, raise your arms or backpack over your head to look big, and back away slowly. If the cougar approaches, throw rocks or sticks. Should it attack, always fight back and never run. In nearly all cases, the cat will retreat.

Bottom line: pack a Taser if you’re concerned and know how to use it. Better yet, pay attention to your surroundings to avoid confrontation. “We’re animals, too,” Thompson says. “We need to trust our instincts.”

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