In the town of Churchill in northern Manitoba, Canada, polar bears roam the streets all year round, often scaring residents.
The home of polar bears
Churchilltown is one of the most remote towns in Canada. The permanent population here is less than 1,000 people. But cold and isolation are nothing at all for residents, and the biggest threat is polar bears.
Churchilltown is on the migration route of these large predators, who follow the coastline to the hunting grounds of Hudson Bay, where they look for seals in the ice. Up to 10,000 polar bears live during the hunting season, and 800 polar bears live here even if it's not during the hunting season.
Although it makes the residents frightened, but the polar bear is still the economic lifeblood of the town, the tour operator uses a special truck to carry tourists to see the polar bear, this big tin box, not to mention the polar bear, the elephant can not help it.
Bears haunt
Warning signs are posted all over the town to alert people to the polar bear. In order to escape quickly, many people have exercised their skills like agents, and the people in the town know each other's roots, so they will even keep the doors and doors unlocked to facilitate escape.
In the past, polar bears hanging around the town were shot directly, which obviously exacerbated human-bear conflicts. So in the 1970s, Churchill Town launched the Polar Bear Alert Program. When a bear is spotted, they call a dedicated line, and then the program's staff immediately goes out to try to scare the bear away by firing walnut shells or rubber bullets. If this doesn't work, the bear is anesthetized and taken to the world's only polar bear prison.
This famous prison is built in the former military aircraft hangar and contains many cells, each about 3.6 meters wide and 4.8 meters long. Polar bears are caught and locked up for 30 days.
The Polar Bear Alert Program receives an average of about 300 calls a year. About 50 bears ended up in jail.
How to manage?
Preferential treatment of prisoners does not exist.
During their detention, the polar bears are fed only snow and water, and the polar bears' fat makes them quite good at starving, so 30 days of prison life will not kill them. But it must have been a very unpleasant experience.
Brett Whitlock, Churchill's regional chief protection officer, explains: "Only by making them uncomfortable will they not link the town to food, which will reduce the possibility of proximity." ”
Although it is true that they are imprisoned in essence, this move can indeed reduce the conflict between humans and bears, although polar bears suffer more losses, but they have saved their lives, and no human will lose their lives because of them, which feels like this is a good way to deal with some wild animals that have been very common recently entering the city, what do you think?
After serving their sentences, polar bears are first anesthetized and then taken out by helicopter, bears are flagged before they are released so that they can be tracked, and the sentences for repeat offenders are slowly increased. If a bear is not suitable for release due to various reasons such as being too young or too old, it is transferred to the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg.
Bear-to-human conflicts have declined dramatically since the polar bear warning program began, but only recently began to rise again. Warming causes the ice to melt; Summers are longer now, meaning the polar bear hunting period has been shortened, and after months of starvation, the bears have become restless, forcing them to frequently invade human settlements.