James Shearer

Falling asleep to the sound of gunfire is not uncommon in Churchill, Manitoba. The members of polar bear patrol are out day and night regardless of weather and overly curious polar bears are scared off with blank firing cracker shells. When this doesn’t work there are a few options available which protect both humans and bears.

Introducing: the polar bear justice system.

If a bear persists in coming into town and the bangs and flashes from the blank shotgun shells don’t scare them away the bears are either tranquilized or captured in a bear trap.

The bear is then sent to Polar Bear Jail where it spends two weeks banged up with access only to water and ice. This is actually a very humane system, especially for polar bears which have a unique ability to regulate their metabolism. When there is no food, they simply choose not to be hungry and conserve energy. If food was provided, released bears would be trying to break back into the jail! The solitary confinement encourages them to stay clear of people and re-activates their natural fear of people. The bears are then released back into neighbouring Wapusk National Park with a small dot on their fur to act as an indicator should the reoffend.

All bear sightings in Churchill are reported to a special phone number “675-BEAR” and are responded to by Manitoba Natural Resources. Bears which have been identified as recently released are considered to have breached their probation and are ‘re-arrested’ and returned to jail for another two weeks. To prevent a further reoffending, the bear is then airlifted by helicopter to a location 50km north of Churchill where they continue their natural journey in search of their natural prey, ringed seals.

When we drove out to the polar bear jail there wasn’t much to see. The structure resembles an aircraft hanger and although it was likely a few bears were inside, all was quiet. The public are not permitted to see into the jail because this could acclimatize the captured animals to people and actually exacerbate the problem.

Stepping out from the Wapusk General Store one day I was immediately hit with a sharp blast of arctic air. Snow as being blown sideways and it was extremely hard to see where to go. I was also greeted with the sound of cracker shells being fired to my left in close proximity. My attention was quickly diverted to the right as a man with a radio came running up shouting to get back inside. A bear was close by. The bear patrol was trying to scare the bear off but sometimes this can result in the confused animal running between buildings. This heightened fear level in the bears poses a further danger should someone accidentally encounter the bear as it is being driven out of town.

My intention was to head back to the place I was staying which was less than 40 metres away. However, with the combination of driving snow preventing any sort of real visibility and the roads being coated with ice, it wasn’t safe to assume a bear could be seen coming. Fortunately I was able to dart back inside and escape the potential bear encounter and freezing weather.

Churchill is also one of very few places in the world to have a mandatory curfew for residents. An old air raid siren can be heard wailing each night at 10pm. At this time it is expected that everyone be tucked up in bed or safe at home. With people off the street if a bear does wander into town there is less likeliness of there being any danger to residents.

During my stay in Manitoba’s most northern town, the nightly siren and daily firing of warning shots heard not too far away was a constant reminder of this curious relationship Churchill has as the Polar Bear Capital of the World.