Tag Archives: Labrador

Horse killed by a polar bear in southern Greenland this week

Posted on February 19, 2016 | Comments Off

“Until Wednesday, Malik Frederiksen owned nine horses at his property in southern Greenland. After an attack by a polar bear, he now owns eight.”

Nanortalik Greenland_in context Google maps

So begins an article published in The Arctic Journal yesterday (18 February) about more problem bears onshore in mid-winter. But this time, the location is the south-west tip of Greenland and this time, the polar bear killed something before it was shot. It could just as easily have been a person.

In addition, according to this report, this is the second time in two days that a polar bear has been shot onshore in Greenland because it got too close for comfort.

It’s also the second report in as many weeks of multiple polar bears onshore causing problems in the middle of winter – the other reports were from southern Labrador in late January/early February. This is a new pattern: it’s different and it means something. Continue reading

Comments Off on Horse killed by a polar bear in southern Greenland this week

Posted in Polar bear attacks

Tagged attacks, facts, Greenland, Labrador, onshore, polar bears, problem bears, winter

Polar bears roaming Labrador in winter due to climate change, says minister

Posted on February 7, 2016 | Comments Off

This is a follow-up to a post on my book blog that I wrote this morning because it’s relevant to the scenario I describe in my novel, set in the year 2025 in northern Newfoundland. I’m cross posting it for the benefit of regular readers here.

It appears that most of the blame for this phenomenon of multiple sightings of hungry bears onshore in the dead of winter (creating havoc and roaming among houses in the coastal Labrador communities of Black Tickle and Charlottetown) has been placed squarely on…climate change. By a government minister. You have to hear this man’s words to believe it.

Labrador south and Fogo Nfld marked

Comments Off on Polar bears roaming Labrador in winter due to climate change, says minister

Posted in Advocacy, Polar bear attacks, Population

Tagged Black Tickle, Charlottetown, climate change, Davis Strait, encounters, facts, Labrador, Newfoundland, Perry Trimper, polar bears, population increase, range contraction, sea ice, sightings

Spring sea ice prediction for next year off Newfoundland: extensive ice coverage

Posted on December 3, 2015 | Comments Off

EATEN – my new polar bear attack novel – is set in Newfoundland 2025 for a reason. I wondered: what if sea ice coverage 10 years from now is as high or higher than it has been for the last two years, with inevitable positive effects on Davis Strait harp seal and polar bear populations?

The Canadian Ice Service prediction for this region, released earlier this week (1 December 2015, see references for link), is that 2016 is set to meet my “what-if” scenario handily. Nine years to go! See the CIS expected ice coverage for 19 February 2016 below (CIS fig. 3):

2016 Newfoundland Ice outlook for 19 Feb 2016_at Dec 1 2015

How does the above ice map compare to the last two years? At least as high or higher. Have a look below.

Comments Off on Spring sea ice prediction for next year off Newfoundland: extensive ice coverage

Posted in Conservation Status, Life History, Polar bear attacks, Sea ice habitat

Tagged Canadian Ice Service, Crockford, Davis Strait, Eaten, Gulf of St. Lawrence, harp seals, Labrador, March, Newfoundland, novel, polar bear, polar bear attacks, predictions, spring, swimming polar bears, what if

Labrador polar bear not lost or in danger – just running down a rural highway

Posted on May 11, 2015 | Comments Off

An interesting report from Labrador this morning: video footage of a fat polar bear running down an isolated 2-lane highway in southern Labrador.

Yet another reminder that there is still a lot of sea ice off that coast, which is home to the Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation.
Continue reading

Comments Off on Labrador polar bear not lost or in danger – just running down a rural highway

Posted in Life History, Sea ice habitat

Tagged Davis Strait, highway, inland, Labrador, polar bear, sea ice, sighting, video

Polar bear habitat update – sea ice for hunting plentiful in all subpopulation regions

Posted on May 8, 2015 | Comments Off

Preferred polar bear habitat is said to be 50% concentration or higher over continental shelves, which describes all but the fringes of sea ice extent today, including Hudson Bay, the Southern Beaufort, and the Barents Sea.

However, polar bears – excellent swimmers that they are – are quite capable of utilizing areas with 15-50% sea ice concentration if necessary (Durner et al. 2004; Rode et al. 2014:79), especially when prey are plentiful. This would account for the fact that there are still sightings of polar bears in and around northern Newfoundland (see previous post here and photo below¹), where ice concentration is in the 30-50% range.

Photo with this news story (7 May 2015): “(Update) Polar bear sighting in Croque”

Comments Off on Polar bear habitat update – sea ice for hunting plentiful in all subpopulation regions

Posted in Life History, Sea ice habitat

Tagged Barents Sea, Beaufort Sea, Canadian Ice Service, Davis Strait, harp seal, hunting, Labrador, Newfoundland, NSIDC, polar bear, preferred habitat, sea ice, sea ice concentration, spring ice conditions

Polar bear season for Newfoundland residents still going strong, recent sightings confirm

Posted on April 29, 2015 | Comments Off

Two recent sightings of polar bears along the north shore of Newfoundland are a reminder that sea ice is still a prominent feature of the Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation landscape at this time of year.

A polar bear was sighted in the community of La Scie, northern Newfoundland Monday, 27 April (pictured above, swimming in the harbour), while another landed in the town of Fogo, on Fogo Island, last week (see maps below).
Continue reading

Comments Off on Polar bear season for Newfoundland residents still going strong, recent sightings confirm

Posted in Life History, Sea ice habitat

Tagged Davis Strait, Fogo, Gray, La Scie, Labrador, Newfoundland, polar bear, sea ice, sightings, spring, swimming

Polar bear encounter in the Canadian High Arctic reminiscent of recent attacks

Posted on April 18, 2015 | Comments Off

Men recreating the 1938 expedition of explorer David Haig-Thomas have a mid-April 2015 polar bear encounter reminiscent of two recent polar bear attacks (Labrador, 2013, Svalbard, 2011) but with a happier ending.

Comments Off on Polar bear encounter in the Canadian High Arctic reminiscent of recent attacks

Posted in Polar bear attacks

Tagged Arctic, attack, Labrador, polar bear, Svalbard, trip-wire, warning

Polar bear habitat update – even more ice this week in the Barents Sea

Posted on March 26, 2015 | Comments Off

Polar bear habitat is close to average for this date all over the Arctic this week. Barents Sea pack ice has increased substantially since last week and the ice in Eastern Canada is still well above average (and higher than 1979-early 1980s). Arctic ice has grown since a preemptive call for “the lowest maximum extent on record” was made by NSIDC last week — there is now at least as much ice for this date as there was in 2011 and almost as much as there was last year (2014).

Southern Davis Strait polar bears are out feeding on the glut of harp seals in the pack ice off Labrador and Newfoundland (discussed in detail here). One or more bears strayed a bit from the pack and ended up swimming around near the Hibernia oil platform (not far from the ice edge, although the CBC reports didn’t mention that “minor” fact), discussed in this recently updated post (with maps).

Harp seal female with nursing pup, DFO Canada.

Ice maps and graphs below: it’s worth a look.
Continue reading

Comments Off on Polar bear habitat update – even more ice this week in the Barents Sea

Posted in Life History, Sea ice habitat

Tagged Barents Sea, Canadian Ice Service, CBC, denning females, Derocher, harp seals, Hibernia, Hopen Island, Labrador, Newfoundland, Norwegian Ice Service, NSIDC, oil platform, polar bears, sea ice, sea ice maximum, Svalbard, swimming

International Polar Bear Day & Polar bears in the news this week

Posted on February 27, 2015 | Comments Off

Today’s the day to celebrate the resilience and adaptability of polar bears.

Not only did the record-breaking sea ice low of 2012 have virtually no effect on the bears but in 2014, only two subpopulations were classified as “declining” or “likely declining” – down from seven in 2010 and four in 2013 (see map below).

See my recent “Twenty good reasons not to worry about polar bears.”
[GWPF Briefing Paper version (pdf), just out today, here]

POLAR BEARS IN THE NEWS…

Kudos to the CBC for producing a propaganda-free polar bear “Fun Facts” page for kids that won’t give them nightmares – have a look.

Other news: Polar bears come early to Black Tickle, Labrador this year, a new population count is planned for the Barents Sea subpopulation, and The Times (UK) publishes some good news about polar bears. Details below.

UPDATE February 27, 2015. I’ve added another news item I missed below.

UPDATE APRIL 7, 2015. Correction to the February 27 update below.
Continue reading

Comments Off on International Polar Bear Day & Polar bears in the news this week

Posted in Conservation Status, Population, Summary

Tagged Barents Sea, Black Tickle, briefing paper, conservation success, extralimital sighting, good news, Gulf of St. Lawrence, Labrador, polar bear, population estimate, sea ice

“A Harrowing Encounter”- my published review of “Meltdown”

Posted on February 26, 2015 | Comments Off

Here’s an excerpt of my just-published review of “Meltdown: Terror at the Top of the World” (the story of the July 2013 polar bear attack in Labrador, Canada), adapted from my November 2014 blog post. The review is called “A Harrowing Encounter” and it’s just out in the Spring 2015 issue of RANGE Magazine.

In the photo above, a polar bear approaches Brian Ladoon’s Canadian Eskimo Dogs in Churchill, Manitoba – in this case, unlike the hiker described in “Meltdown,” there was a happy ending. Norbert Rosing photo, from this Daily Mail article, 2008 (for more, see also “A priest of dogs and bears” from 2013 and cool video here).