The town of Churchill in Canada sits on the western flank of the Hudson Bay, which is
home to around 800 polar bears. The town was
actually built on the bears’ migration route,
and many of the huge predators skirt the town’s
borders.
You walk out in the morning, and from the
tracks in fresh snow, you see that a bear
has walked between the houses.”
Townspeople used to just shoot the bears,
but if anything, that worsened the conflicts
between the two species. Following a series
of attacks in the 1960s, culminating in the
death of a child, Churchill started developing
a better system.
Now, when people spot a bear, they call 204-675-BEAR.
The 24-hour hotline reaches the staff of the
Polar Bear Alert Program, who have divided
the area around Churchill into three concentric
zones. If the bear’s in the outer zone,
the staff will try to scare it away by firing
cracker shells—shotgun rounds that explode
with especially loud bangs. If that doesn’t
work, they resort to rubber bullets or paint
balls.
If the bear is in the inner zone, where Churchill
residents live and work, the staff will try
to capture it. They do that with large cylindrical
traps, baited with seal meat. When the bear
enters, it triggers a metal screen, which
locks behind it. And since the traps are mounted
on the backs of trailers, the bear can be
immediately driven away to the Polar Bear
Holding Facility.
Built in 1982, the facility has space for
28 inmates, and has held over 2,000 to date.
It’s not a long-term prison. Bear families
are relocated as soon as possible. If they
capture a lone bear in the inner zone, they
keep it in jail for a month, to minimize the
chance that, once released, it’ll just go
back to the same place. When the time is right
and the weather clears, the wardens tranquilize
the animals, bundle them in nets, strap them
to helicopters, and airlift them to a site
70 kilometers north of Churchill. The bears
get ear tag radios so that officials can track
their movements, and lip tattoos so they can
be identified in future years.
The Polar Bear Alert Program has been a tremendous
success, for both bears and humans. From a
site of fatal conflict, Churchill has become
a symbol of co-existence—not to mention
a major tourist destination for people keen
to see and photograph the bears.
These conflicts can be managed, but they are
the harbingers of a more unsettling trend.
The Arctic is changing, affecting even places
like Churchill which lie further south. The
ice the bears depend on is disappearing. And
the bears are struggling.
The reason for that? Yes, Global warming.
