Polar Bear Alley

This is a collection of northern stories - polar bear, arctic and otherwise from Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - the polar
bear capital of the world.

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Weather in Churchill, Manitoba
Tide Table for Churchill 
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Polar Bear Attack Page

If you like the Polar Bear Blog, check out my first book, Polar Bears of Churchill. It combines eight years of guiding experience in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada with the latest scientific research, local history and a bit of cabin fever. Independently published. Available online for $14.95! Click BUY NOW to purchase a copy and support Polar Bear Alley!

Polar Bear Blog - North River Hike - June 21, 2006

Heading out on a ten-day hike from Churchill to North River. We start off at Prince of Wales Fort, an 18th century stone fort located across the river from Churchill. From there, we walk along quartzite ridges to the shores of Button Bay and then follow the coast to North River.

My neighbour is providing polar bear security for a group of Dutch coming up here with Nature Trek tours and I am tagging along. Pretty excited about backpacking again, not much opportunity up here with polar bears and all that.

Of course, I cannot help but think about the pictures of a polar bear attack in Kimmirut a few years back. A group of hunters was camped on the coast when a bear came in through the side of the tent and just about scalped their Inuit guide.

Come to think about it, a Canadian Wildlife Service researcher and Parks officer were just about done in a couple years back in Wapusk National Park when a bear came through their tent.

They had set up an electric fence around the campsite but I guess it did not click in or maybe the bear just ignored it. Anyway, they woke up to a bear coming through the side of the tent.

The Parks Officer ended up firing his shotgun through the roof of the tent to scare the bear away. I believe the two of them spent the rest of the night not only scared but also deaf.

Hmmm...where can I find a chainmail tent?

Polar Bear Blog - Black Bear - June 15, 2006

Actually, it should read the first and probably only black bear of the year. Around 4:30am, we woke up to a pretty rare sight on the tundra.

My dogs, Milo and MoonUnit, were both perched on the couch, noses pressed against the living room window. This is a clear sign of an intruder in the yard but with one big difference...no barking.

They were just kind of staring, occasionally looking at me for a second opinion or maybe some direction. When I got over there, my reaction was pretty much the same: silent.

A mosquitoe riddled black bear was briskly walking right past my deck, half looking for a tasty cabin, half looking for some respite from the morning's relentless buzzing, biting and badgering.

Churchill lies along the 'treeline' or the transitional zone where the boreal forest ends and low-arctic tundra begins. It is an overlap between several species, caribou and moose, red fox and arctic fox, black bear and polar bear.

However, it is quite rare to encounter a black bear up here as they tend to stay within the treeline and avoid human contact. This one seems to have been forced out by soaring temperatures (it was +28C today) and calm winds combining to make prime mosquito conditions.

Of course, by the time it would have taken me to explain that, Milo and MoonUnit had decided that they hate not only white but black bears as well and started going bonkers. Trouble is, I did not want to unleash their furry fury on this poor little bear (and black bears do seem little after having polar bears in your yard) and had to fight my way through swirling huskies to get out the door.

By that time, the black bear was headed over to the next 'cottage suburb' and likely to the former site of the Churchill dump after that. I drove a few miles with him to escort him out of town and then left him, walking, scratching and rolling in the dust, trying to get away from his million new-found friends.