Day at the Beach

2006 was the summer of bear.

With the Churchill garbage dump finally closed, many polar bears returned and simply hung out along the coast instead of heading to the garbage dump and eventually captured and relcoated by the Polar Bear Alert program.

August 2nd was an incredible day. It was hot, probably 20-25C and many polar bears had just come off the sea ice, reluctantly spending their summer ashore waiting for cold temperatures return in November.

However, two polar bears seemed to be okay with this daunting proposition or at least not to care. I watched these two bears frolic and spar out in the waters of Hudson Bay for at least one or two hours on one of the hottest days of the year. They looked like two year old cubs (or maybe even three). As they played, their mother watched from a gravel spit along the coast, overheating and slightly annoyed at her offspring's antics.