| Hudson
Bay Post Archives - Polar Bear Alert
Polar
Bear Alert officers prepare for another season (Originally appearing
in the June 2004 issue of the Hudson Bay Post)
In
2003, Churchill's Polar Bear Alert program recorded the first
of its 347 bear occurences on June 14th. This marked the start
of a season that saw more recorded bear occurences than any other
year in the history of the program.
According
to Richard Romaniuk, Manitoba Conservation Officer for the Churchill
area, 'Call everywhere were up, it was just a busier year... The
amount of bears around depends on how the ice 'goes' in the summer.
That is, the location of the ice and when it melts. If the ice
disperses anywhere in the area around Churchill, these if an influx
of bears onto the land. Last year, it just dumped a whole bunch
of bears right around Churchill.'
This
combined with a late freeze accounted for the increase in bear
activity. With 'bear season' at itspeak in November, this extended
stay significantly increase bear occurences as compared to 2002.
In
2002, D20 (the Polar Bear Jail) was empty by November 13th, while
last year, bears were still being released up until November 28.
During this two week period, 55 additional bear occurences were
recorded.
An
occurence is recorded any time officers engage a polar bear or
the public calls the 'bearline'. A total of 176 bears were handled
which represents 138 different bears. Some bears were handled
more than once.
The
vast majority of these bears, 80%, were encountered in Zone 2,
which stretches from the RX Road just past the Churchill dump.
Only thirty were encountered within the 'Zone 1' area between
Cape Merry and the RX Road, which includes the Town of Churchill.
Cabin and populated areas, including Camp Nanuq, the Churchill
Northern Studies Cente and Goose Creek, are also part of Zone
2.
Zone
3 is the interception area just east of the dump. These zones
are partolled by Manitoba Conservation Officers with the town
and imediate surrounding areas, obviously, taking priority.
The
program essentially began in 1967, when the Manitoba Department
of Natural Resources and Transportation Services decided to 'study
polar bear occurences to determine how many bears became problems
annually'.
By
1969, a 'Polar Bear Patrol' was put into action in the Churchill
area. Its goal was to 'clear the area of bears by trapping and
transporting them to another location or shooting those identified
as problem bears.'
The
patrol started airlifting bears around 1971, primarily with funds
provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. A variety
of locations were tried with different degrees of success. Eventually,
relocation to the North River area seemed most successful as it
simply continued the ears' natural progression northward.
However,
in the mid-1970s, the situation changed considerably. The Fort
Churchill military base and several other smaller, coastal communities
were abandoned throughout the 1970s. With the removal of the Fort
Churchill dump and the lessened impact of hunting pressures, both
traditional and illegal, the numbers of bears in and around Churchill
drastically increased. By 1976, 220 bears sightings were recorded
in the Churchill/Fort Churchill area (up from only 76 in 1967)
and the 65 problem bears in residential sites were the highest
number on record.
As
a result of concerns expressed by themayor and council at the
time, a local Churchill Polar Bear Committee, consisting of Churchill
residents and representatives of the council and the Provincial
Wildlife Branch, was established. By 1977, this committee submitted
14 recommendations and urged the acquisition of Building D-20
at Fort Churchill as a temporary holding place. This facility
opened in June 1980 and holds up to 23 bears.
-
prepared by Kelsey Eliasson, first appearing in the Hudson Bay
Post, Churchill, Manitoba's monthly newspaper published occasionally
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