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One Polar Bear for Every Five Citizens
These Dangerous Predators Are Now Permanent Guests in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada!
By Peter Baunmartner
Shortly before winter begins, Churchill experiences a six-week tourist season. Adventure tourists from all over the world journey to the Arctic Circle to witness an extraordinary wildlife phenomenon: hundreds of polar bears waiting for the ice to freeze on Hudson Bay. They have learned that here the ice freezes first. In Churchill they wait until they can head out onto the ice to hunt seals, their primary source of food. In the summer they hang around on the Tundra without any food; in November they hang around Churchill and wait.
Polar Bear alert: "Stop, don't walk any further!" Denise, our guide, warns me as I stand beside the polar bear alert sign to take a picture. The sign is at the edge of town in front of a large rock. Behind the rock is the slowly-freezing bay. "This is not a good idea," she says as she pulls me back. She personally has seen a polar bear behind this rock twice.
What does one do in that situation, I ask? Take off your clothes and walk slowly backward, she says. Bears are naturally very curious. They inspect every article of clothing you lay down. Just don't run, and never look the bears in the eyes. This antagonizes them. It is better to make your way freezing to the next house. Because of this, all houses in Churchill are expected to remain unlocked.
But, as I try to get into my hotel, the Aurora Inn, I find the back door locked! What happens if a bear shows up now, I wonder? "Oh, he was here yesterday," says Gavin Lawrie, the proprietor, as he tries to calm me down. And, sureenough, right in front of our window are bear tracks. Very big tracks, the size of two or three human palm prints. A polar bear can be 2 1/2 to 3 meters long and up to 600 kilograms.
