Polar Bear Encounters

Polar Bears are so strong and beautiful it is hard to believe how deadly they can be. As interested as we are in the bear we must always respect the wild side of this huge animal. While in the Arctic I had the occasion to see several in the wild close up and many from far and safely away. When you first catch sight of Nanook you are taken up with the fluid motion as they move across the ice. There is no wasted motion. Even better is to see them with a pair of yearlings or babies.

This long-necked beast is made to live in its environment. Incredible ability to smell and seek out seals living under the snow at twenty miles, staggers the imagination. Although they have this ability, their catch ratio may be as high as one in eight. The seal is also equipped with special abilities and can take evasive actions to match wits with Nanook.

My favourite observation of a bear with cubs was in Broughton Island. I was walking to work one morning in late May when one of my employees, a water truck driver, told me there was a bear with cubs near the landfill site a couple of miles from the hamlet. A bear alert was made to make sure the people were aware of the bears. This is very important as bears with cubs could be very dangerous if interfered with by people. Inuit know this but the siren is sounded anyway.
I went to my truck and with one employee, travelled to the area where the bears were sighted. When we approached this place we left the truck and viewed the bears about a hundred meters on the side of the hill.To my amazement they were playing or to be exact sliding down the hill and repeating the action.

Mother would climb up the hill and wait for the cubs to make their way to the top. They would make one step foreword and slide back.It was amusing to see this wild animal playing with their babies. I watched this for some time and took a few photos and after the bear smelled us she gathered her cubs and immediately moved away from the hamlet onto the ice and disappeared. My Enok friend explained that bears play with their offspring to teach them to hunt.

As I observed these bears, I could put a mother and two children in their place and the behaviour pattern would not differ at all. The sightings of polar bears in this region is all to frequent as the Inuit often hang their seal meat outside their homes and attract hungry bears. Our usual plan was to get several hunters on snow machines and drive or herd them from the community. We would drive them to the ice and miles away.

It is important to be gentle during this process because bears this time of the year with cubs have low fat levels and stress could cause problems with fatigue and heat loss.If a bear comes back several times they are sometimes sedated and taken far away but unfortunately they have to be killed when they endanger the people of the hamlet.

You cannot see a polar bear in the wild without becoming a advocate for their protection. I wonder how the bears feel when placed in a small area for the amusement of people who come to the zoo. Sometimes orphaned or injured bears end up there and are cared for in a appropriate manner and live a good life. For me the polar bear represents all that is spectacular about our Arctic wilderness - so see it while you can.