Schöner Wohnen ...oder :This time it's a polar bear on a sofa....

Photo: NoelBjorn

Wir hatten bereits einige Tiere auf dem Sofa, Hunde, Robben, Löwen ... Und was Eisbären angeht, gehörte Knut sicherlich zu den bekanntesten überhaupt, der mal auf einem Sofa zu sehen war - aber, wie man hier sehen kann, war er definitiv nicht der erste, diese Lieblichkeit hatte offenbar die gleiche Vorstellung von "Schöner Wohnen" bereits in den 50er Jahren in Churchill ...-

We already had some animals on the sofa, dogs, seals, lions... And as to polar bears, Knut has certainly been the most known ever seen on a sofa - but, as one can see here, he was definitely not the first one, obviously this cutie had the same idea of a comfy living style already in the 1950s in Churchill...

Churchill & The Nuisance Bears & the Extension of the Polar Bear Jail

Es ist eine Sache, in Churchill die Wartezeit auf das Zufrieren der Hudson Bay auszusitzen...
It is one thing to wait for the Hudson Bay to freeze by sitting it out.......manch belesener Bär mag auch durch Douglas Adams inspiriert worden sein...-
...some might have been inspired by Douglas Adams' "Hitchhikers Guide through the Galaxy" ... ...und versucht nun auch "Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis" zu kommen...-
...and can be found busy arranging for private means of transport, the more sophisticated the better ... Schon etwas anders gestaltet sich das Warten, wenn man dann bspw. um Hosen oder andere Gegenstände kämpft, entsorgt von nicht allzu weit wegwohnenden Menschen ..Richtig kritisch wird es dann, wenn die Bären durch die schlichte Präsenz von Hosen und anderer menschengegenutzter Gegenstände bärenscharf schließen, dass ein Besuch bei eben diesen Menschen doch durchaus eine lohnenswerte Angelegenheit sein könnte, ein nettes Mahl ließe sich bestimmt finden, eine willkommene Perspektive, speziell wenn die Ringelrobben immer länger auf sich warten lassen...(Für einen Moment lassen wir mal außer Acht, dass Menschen auch die Angewohnheit haben nicht nur Hosen zu entsorgen, sondern auch alle Arten von giftigen Abfällen, die vielen neugierigen und hungrigen Bären nicht wohlbekommen sind...)...-It's another story when it comes to fighting for trousers and other man-used objects, dumped by humans living in the vicinity...And it gets critical, when the bears, smart as they are, deduce by the mere presence of trousers and other human used objects, that paying them a visit might come in handy, a nice meal might already be waiting for them , a welcome outlook especially in times when waiting for the favourite food takes longer and longer every year...(For a moment we'll just ignore that humans ususally don't dump only trousers but also all sorts of toxic waste which hasn't been too becoming for the polar bears in the past...)
Dieses preisgekrönte World Press Foto aus dem Jahre 1971 zeigt einen von 50 sedierten Eisbären kurz bevor er per Airlift aus Churchill ausgeflogen wird, 320 km weiter weg in Sicherheit. Bären, die Müllhalden nach Essbarem absuchten und manchmal auch Menschen angriffen, während sie auf das Zufrieren der Husdon Bay warteten, wurden früher in der Regel erschossen.

"One of fifty polar bears is tranquilized and prepared for a 320km airlift to safety. The polar bears were due to be shot after they had rampaged garbage dumps in the town of Churchill, near the Arctic Circle. They had also attacked humans while waiting for the ice to form in Hudson Bay to enable them to hunt for prey."
Der Eisbärenknast...
1980 wurde für Eisbären, die Wohngebieten zu nahe kamen, ein paar Kilometer außerhalb eine Einrichtung geschaffen, die im Volksmund als Polar Bear Jail bezeichnet wird. Hier im 'Eisbärengefängnis' bringt man seit 1981 die Problembären unter, bis sie nach Zufrieren der Bucht per Helikopter ausgeflogen werden können, bei Überfüllung auch schon früher. Problembären sind Bären, die sich nicht einfach verscheuchen lassen und immer wieder Menschennähe suchen, dies gilt vor allem für Eisbärinnen mit ihren Kleinen, die am dringlichsten auf Nahrung angewiesen sind.

Nahrung gibt es keine im Gefängsnis, lediglich Wasser und Eis, um den Bären keine weitere Lust auf Menschennähe zu machen.Bis 2005 gab es 23 Zellen, danach wurde auf 28 Plätze aufgestockt. Doch nun haben Erweiterungsarbeiten begonnen, um die Kapazität auf insgesamt 60 zu erhöhen.In diesem Jahr gab es rund 300 Vorkommnisse in Churchill und 60 Bären wurden gefangengenommen. Für 2005 fanden sich 58 Bären, während es ein Jahr zuvor 170 waren.

Die letzte tödlich verlaufene Begegnung für Menschen mit einem Eisbären in Churchill war 1983, im Jahr 2004 wurde ein Forscher von einem Bären angegriffen, glücklicherweise ohne schwerere Folgen.

Churchill's polar bear jail getting lots of use

Laura Blenkinsop, National Post Published: Wednesday, December 09, 2009

One of 60 inmates this year

When the polar bear brought her cubs to feast in the Churchill town dump once, she was locked up in polar bear prison. After Manitoba conservation officials caught her again, and again, and again, she was shipped off to New Mexico.

"She kept coming back to the dump with her cubs and teaching her cubs the bad habits of herself," said Daryll Hedman, regional wildlife manager for the northeast region for Manitoba Conservation. The persistent polar bear mom is now known to the town as Linda, the bear who couldn't stay away - and who spent plenty of time in jail.

The unusual facility's role in combatting the polar bear problem in the small outpost of Churchill was highlighted this week when Manitoba Conservation Minister Bill Blaikie announced $105,000 in provincial funding to buy the building new front and back walls.

The prison is a holding compound filled with rows of cement cells in an old sheet-metal military warehouse. The polar bears that trespass are held there until they can be flown up north and released.

The bears have always been a problem for Churchill. Residents investigating banging noises peer out their windows to find polar bears pounding on their doors. The bears have been known to steal meat from the back of parked trucks. The jail is part of a polar bear alert program that started in 1982, which includes a polar bear alert hotline where bear sightings are called in.

"Churchill's built on a migration route of polar bears," said Mr. Hedman.

The bears come into town between August and November as the ice in Hudson Bay melts and brakes up.

Sitting at the edge of the Bay in northeastern Manitoba, Churchill is a 21/2-hour flight or a 36-hour train ride from Winnipeg.

Mike Spence, Churchill's mayor for nearly 15 years, said the town is the polar bear capital of the world. The western Hudson Bay bear population is just over 900.

Now a port community of about 1,100 people, during the peak of the cold war Churchill was a military base and home to 6,000 people. When the military moved out in the late 1970s the Manitoba government bought the building as a part of their polar bear control plan. The jail is staffed 24 hours a day during bear season by six Manitoba conservation workers. Four of them leave at season's end.

Since 2005, the jail has gone through nearly half a million dollars in upgrades including a new roof, five new bear-holding cells with cooling systems and new electrical systems.

The compound has 20 individual cells but can hold up to 28 bears at once if cubs are caught with their mother. This season, 60 polar bears went through the jail.

Mr. Spence said the polar bear jail looks like a prison for humans, "but the bars are bigger and the doors are bigger, naturally."

The bears also do not have cellmates. Stainless-steel doors cover the bars so the bears cannot see people or each other. Conservation officials want to prevent them from getting accustomed to humans to avoid complications when they are released.

Usually bears "do" 30 days in the Churchill compound before they are tranquilized, put in a net and flown up north where they are marked with a green dot and tattooed before being released. Each flight costs approximately $3,000 and usually only carries one bear at a time.

The tattoos help conservation officials track repeat offenders like Linda. Bears that come to Churchill more than once do increased jail time. They are held until the Hudson freezes again.

"What we'll do with that one, we'll probably just time him out and he's in the holding compound for the duration," said Mr. Hedman. "He's proven to be a problem bear and he could get himself into trouble either for himself or with people."

The polar bear alert line is listed under emergency services on the town's website, right below the fire department and the RCMP. This year the alert line received 300 calls but Mr. Hedman said that most of the time the bears are not actually caught. Instead the polar bear alert team chases the bear with a truck, an all-terrain vehicle and on foot- all while setting off noisemakers that crackle and bang like fireworks until the bear has been run out of town.

Though they are the town's top tourist attraction, the bears pose a real threat to residents Mr. Hedman said. Especially when they are trying to break and enter.

"If they're pounding on the door they could go through the door pretty quick," he said.

"Basically," Mr. Spence said, "you're holding bears in a jail, so to speak, for the safety of the community."

By the way, the last fatal polar bear attack in Churchill was in 1983.

In 2004, a researcher working east of the town was knocked to the ground by a polar bear and escaped with only minor injuries.

Sources & related articles:
- National Post/09.12.2009, Winnipeg Free Press/Dec2009, Winnipeg Sun/Jan2009, WayOdd/2006, Travel Scribbles

- The Shrinking Polar Bears/CBSNews 1999 (!!!- very good article!)
- Sam Fried: Polar Birds and Polar Bears/Nov 2008

Photo credits:
- Alicia Shelley(1), Tom Nebbia-/pro corbis(2), Arctic Adventure Travel Blog (3), David Hiser/Getty Image (4), Corbis (5), World Press Photo 1971/Kevin E.Gavin (6), Lazy Bear Lodge(7), Boundary Waters (8,10), National Post (9), Ebe/Diane Brown on flickr (11,12,13) Find more photos of airlifting the bears by Diane here.

Last news on Churchill: The ice was frozen this year at December 3 & 4, so all the bears will be out of Churchill by now...Thanks, Diane, for this info!

Global Warming...and Infanticide & Cannibalism Part 3

This is an article I found in the photo blog of Ian Williams. It is another account of what did happen this year in Churchill-Manitoba. I have decided to post 2 of Ian Williams photos here, as I find it crucial to observe with our own eyes what is going on, it is one thing to talk about cannibalism or infanticide in polar bears connected to global warming, and another thing to see and to feel the whole tragic when watching the photos... Most of us will never have the opportunity to visit the polar bears when they are waiting for the ice to freeze, so the accounts and images of those who have had the opportunity are our only source...as long as polar bears can't speak up for themselves...

"Polar Bear Infanticide & Cannibalism on the Arctic Ice - Global Warming

I've just returned from a few weeks in the Arctic observing polar bears (Ursus martimus).
As many as 12 bears were observed at any one time which included large males, females, and females with cubs (1st and 2nd year). I also sighted Arctic Fox, Arctic Hare, Silver and Cross Fox, and Rock Ptarmigans.

Photographs were taken in an assortment of conditions ranging from almost balmy conditions in full sun to downright frigid temperatures with 50 knot blizzard winds and falling snow.

Bear Congregation Waits for Ice to Form

From October to November there are many bears that have migrated from the more southerly regions to the shores of Hudson Bay; they are very hungry and have not fed for most of the summer. The congregation is waiting for the sea ice to form to allow them to roam widely to feed upon their favourite prey - the ringed seal.

Lack of Sea Ice

One of the most striking observations I made was the lack of solid sea ice. Although the ice was slowly forming, it was still what they call grease ice, which is ice that is not suitable for the bears to traverse safely any great distance from the shoreline. The sea ice is paramount to the bear's survival as without the ice formation the bears cannot move onto the bay to track and feed on seals.

Cannibalism

On one day we observed a male polar bear feeding upon what appeared to be some type of carrion - perhaps a seal or a other small animal. However, upon closer inspection it was revealed that the small carcass was not a seal but rather a baby first year polar bear. The location of the feeding male was given away by two ravens which could be seen from some distance jumping and flying about.

Circling the male was a female bear which appeared to be in obvious distress. The female was not walking as polar bears usually do - steadily and surely, but instead had a stiff gait and was walking erratically. Further, the bear's head was swaying from side to side and the mother was making low vocalisations.

Although cannibalism is not unheard of in the animal world, it isn't commonly observed amongst polar bears. There are several hypothesis for cannibalism, however, all are unfounded. Perhaps the male bear is removing future competition by killing the cub, or is killing the cub to cause the female mother to become 'available" again for mating. Although these are plausible reasons, it's more likely that the male bear was exceptionally hungry and seized the opportunity for nutritional gain by feeding upon the cub. As mentioned earlier the bears are congregating to feed on ringed seals on the ice. If the ice is not forming earlier enough, then the hungry bears become starved and after reaching such a poor condition may seek alternate prey such as young bear cubs or other animals.

Of interest is that the male bear did not consume the liver of the cub. This is because the liver of a polar bear is toxic. How did the male know the liver was toxic?

Major Concern

What's a major concern is that this cannibalistic behaviour may become more prevalent if conditions favourable for ice formation are delayed, leading to fewer recruitment of a species that is already in decline.

Scientists have documented the gradual reduction and delay in sea ice formation for several years and although some proponents believe this to be a normal event, others believe the cause maybe global warming. Whatever the cause, the results speak for themselves - sea ice is not forming as rapidly or as extensively as it did.

Please note that this image is being posted NOT to discriminate or advance the perception that polar bears are fearless and uncaring predators, but to highlight a concern that global warming is altering the behaviour of specific species.

As I get time I will post a series of images I have photographed of the event.

For more information on the plight of the polar bear, please visit Polar Bears International"

Source & photo credits:
- Again: This article has been published by Ian Williams in his photo blog Anaspides, where you will find more photos.

As long as there is the Copenhagen Conference I will post more often articles concerning the effects of global warming, I did it in the past, I will do it in the future but now I just do it more frequently...