Two young bears after a swim in the near freezing waters of Hudson Bay.For six weeks from mid October through to the end of November, Churchill, in Canada's remote north, becomes a town under siege.
Its local population swells from 900 Churchillians to a whopping 10,000; the attraction, the annual migration to the sea ice of the world's largest, most ferocious land predators.
Each year at this time a polar bear migration that dates back thousands of years is set in motion as the waters along the western coast of Hudson Bay begin to freeze. With an inborn instinct, polar bears, scattered for hundreds of miles across the tundra, sense this change.Having fasted on a diet of berries, kelp and grasses for close to three months, the siren call of the ice is irresistible. Prompted by a gnawing hunger for meat the ravenous bears are enticed by the prospects of a feed they favour above all else; the soft tender flesh of ringed seal pups.
Standing up to three and a half meters tall at full stretch, the largest weighing in at 675 kilograms, these magnificent killing machines move across glacial rock and tundra from their southern stamping grounds for the town that just happens to be on the direct route to the sea ice.
A curious bear is drawn to investigate the delectable odoursemanating from the Tundra Buggy.
With a sense of smell twenty times stronger
than that of a human, not much escapes his attention.
As they approach, Churchill, with years of polar bear encounters, prepares its defences. Sirens are tested, extra rangers from around the country are brought in to patrol the town's boundaries and divert the invaders. The polar bear jail is readied and rifles are loaded with cracker shells . . . . a big bang causing no physical damage.
There was a period in the '70s when any poar bear wandering into town was shot. Not so today.
Bears that slip into town after managing to evade the ´polar bear police´ on the town's outskirts are either darted or lured into a trap baited with delectably fragrant cloth doused in whale or seal oil. From there the bears are transported to the ´polar bear jail', a huge metal enclosure just steps from Churchill's Lilliputian airport
On my recent visit to Churchill for a bear watching safari, the jail was already temporary home to ten miscreants. In 2005, 58 polar bears passed through its accommodations. The polar bears, kept in a cubicle in solitary confinement for 30 days, are fed a diet (or non-diet) that can only be described as bland. No seal meat, no whale blubber, not even a kelp snack, only water in the form of snow.
Life in the jail was not always so spartan for these gigantic carnivores. At first bears were given 'tasty meals', but then the town soon discovered its mistake. The wily animals returned the following year for a comfortable wait and regular feeding at 'Hotel Polar Bear'(the jail)until the waters of Hudson Bay froze over allowing them to hunt. It seemed that hard labour was the only answer.
Most frequently in the past the bears highway into town was via Button Street ending up opposite the Lazy Bear Lodge in the town's center. Disturbed at the thought - I was staying at the Lazy Bear Lodge - I asked Jerry our guide what to expect should I see a bear sneaking out from one of the alleys lining the main street. "Don't worry" he said. "If you see a bear just give it a wide berth! Once they reach town the stimuli usually confuses them. Houses and cars are left unlocked during the bear season so just duck into the nearest door or flag down a car."
Was it any consolation to hear that problem bears, those that return again and again, are sedated and shipped out of town in a cradle hanging beneath a helicopter?
Indeed it was. Doped and disoriented, delinquent bears are deposited in a more northerly area close to the sea ice. The cost of this punishment, starting ta $5,000 a time, is borne by the Churchillians. A fund, kept in the black by film crews who want to photograph an evacuation, lessens the burden with a constant inflow of photography fees.
As I snuggled deep into my duvet in The Lazy Bear Lodge that first night on Canada's wild frontier, my thoughts drifted back to the day's polar bear safari on the tundra.
On a viewing platform at the back of the giant tundra buggy I had a nose to nose encounter with a massive male polar bear. He had stretched himself full length against the side of the buggy to get a better view of us on the platform. Just feet apart, my camera trained on his face, I looked into apair of dangerously intelligent eyes. They were dark brown edged with a milky halo. He hissed softly as he watched me. As I looked back at him through my camera lens I felt almost hypnotized.
He was what Jarret, our driver, called a 'real pretty bear', but the truth is that this huge, fluffy, cuddly looking animal with its gentle dog-like face could and would, given the opportunity,crush a human head with its powerful jaws in seconds. A representative from the Polar Bears International organization showed us exactly how in a demonstration with Jarret, our driver, acting as polar bear lunch. Using a bear skull to illustrate the nears modus operandi, she opened the jaws then clamped them over Jarret's head.
Jarret Long, our Tundra Buggy driver, in a demonstrationshowing a polar bear's mode of attack
once it has pulled a seal from it's breathing hole on the sea ice.
Meanwhile, back in the Lazy Bear Lodge the sharp report of cracker shells throughout the dark night reminded me that it was dangerous out there. On patrol 24/7 rangers touring the town's perimeter and equipped with spotlights, illuminate dark spaces where polar bears could be hiding.
Should a bear be seen in town, the eerie wail of a siren alerts the townspeople.
Thinking back on this incredible days on Canada's Arctic tundra, I couldn't help fear for the future of these magnificent beasts. The polar bear population has dwindled to around 25,000 and the alarm bell is tolling for their survival. Because of global warming, the sea ice id forming later each year. The bears are having to fast up to three weeks longer. Spending less time on the ice means the bears are unable to hunt and build up the body reserves necessary for the summer months on land.
There is a danger according to Lara Hansen, a scientist with the World Wildlife Fund, 'that bears could become so thin by 2012 they may no longer be able to reproduce." Without a determined effort to control this mounting problem this could be the century that polar bears become a memory, a tragic loss for humanity.
Guide Jerry Anderson takes members of a tour grouppast the polar bear jail on the edge of town.
Anne Gordon and James Gordon are travel writers based in Guelph, ON, Canada
This article has been included here in its entirety. It was copied from DEL Condominium Life, Spring issue 2007
Photographs by Anne Gordon
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