Monthly Archives: October 2023

Churchill so far has few problems with polar bears despite predictions of a record bad year

Despite misleading warnings in mid-August that a record number of incidents had already taken place, and that Churchill was on track for a record-number of bear problems this fall, the number of incidents and bears captured so far have been well below other years after the same number of weeks ashore. And while this is shaping up to be the longest ice-free season on record for Western Hudson Bay bears, it may not be a record year for problem bears in Churchill.

On average, officers receive around 250 calls from residents and detain around 50 bears every year, according to statistics provided to Live Science by the Manitoba government. The record number of bears captured in a single year was 176, in 2003.” LiveScience, 16 August 2023

Pro

Polar bear researchers hiding significant increase in Southern Hudson Bay numbers

Last December, researchers vigorously promoted a possible 27% decline in Western Hudson Bay (WH) polar bear abundance but kept hidden the fact that adjacent Southern Hudson Bay (SH) numbers increased by 30% over the same period.

And surprise, surprise: the bombshell SH results call into question everything the ‘experts’ have been saying about polar bears in Hudson Bay for years.

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Feeding time for Russian polar bears as shorefast ice returns to Laptev Sea, ice-generator of the Arctic

Fall is the second-most important feeding season for polar bears after spring but it comes at different times for different subpopulations. Sea ice formation along shorelines attracts fish and seals and that means polar bears which spent the summer onshore will soon eat again after their summer fast. As usual, the earliest ice formation this year is along the coast of the Laptev Sea, which is one of the primary ‘ice-generators’ of Arctic sea ice. Western and Southern Hudson Bay bears will have longer to wait but the ice will eventually come to them too.

Three adult male polar bears share a seal kill on the newly-formed ice off Wapusk National Park, Western Hudson Bay. 5 November 2020. Buggy cam, Explore.org

WH photo

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