The Pacific Ring of Fire

In Canada and Alaska, the consequences of global warming are being keenly felt by brown bears - but in different ways by different populations. Their survival depends mainly on the quantity of wild salmon available in the region, as it is the fruit of their catch that enables the bears to accumulate fat reserves for the winter. While salmon populations off Canada's Pacific coast continue to decline year after year, in the immense Bristol Bay in western Alaska, as well as on Kodiak Island, they are increasing considerably. The water temperature in the North Pacific is now ideal for salmon development. From Canada to Alaska, the documentary follows different bear populations over a two-year period.

For 70 years, the population of the wapiti deer in the Yellowstone National Park in the United States increased unchecked. Without natural predators and despite all human attempts to check the increase of the deer population they kept spreading and destroyed vast regions of the park's vegetation. They literally defoliated the National Park. However, a well-directed reintroduction of 41 wolves between 1995 and 1997 worked wonders: The animals restored the natural balance in the National Park.

For centuries, bears have been relentlessly hunted and exterminated in Europe. In recent years, reintroduction programs, initiated by the European Union in particular, have aimed to re-establish these mammals in their former habitat, such as the Pyrenees or northern Italy. But the return of the bears is not without consequences, and is generating opposition. Breeders fear material damage caused by the reintroduced animals and, although rare, attacks on humans have been recorded in the past. In other European countries, such as Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, people have learned to live with bears over the centuries.

70 years after the last wolves roamed the national park, a total of 41 wolves were reintroduced between 1995 and 1997. A globally unique experiment that had many supporters, but also resolute opponents, then as now.

"Cosmic Encounters" relates one of mankind's oldest dreams: to leave our planet behind and explore outer space - a dream that still fires the imagination of countless human beings to this day. "Encounter in Outer Space" takes the viewer on a journey into the fascinating world of space travel, with images of breathtaking beauty.