Bears Get Around: Churchill, Manitoba

The Canadian province of Manitoba is blessed with three species of bears: black bears, polar bears, and even grizzlies.

Today, I want to tell you about the bears that especially bring to mind cold weather.

Like many Vancouverites, I’m not all that wild about snow (and happily, Vancouver doesn’t get snowed on very often), but polar bears are absolutely made for snow – and especially ice.

 

These two fine bears come from the town of Churchill, on the shores of Hudson Bay. Buniq is on the left, and Biisaiyowaq is on the right. Buniq was actually born in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, in a town called Arviat. Her name means “sweet daughter” in Inuktitut, a language of the Inuit people. Buniq later moved to Churchill.

Biisaiyowaq hails from Churchill itself, and was created by an artist there named Belinda Norman. Biisaiyowaq means “clever person” or “one who solves problems” in Inuktitut.

Now, you’d expect to see polar bears always surrounded by snow, wouldn’t you? But the bears around Churchill have to deal with seasons much like the rest of us.

Manitoba’s polar bears spend most of the year living on the ice of Hudson Bay, hunting their favourite food: seals. Pregnant bears, though, will stay in dens on land until their cubs are born in March. When the ice on Hudson Bay melts in the summer, all the polar bears have to go ashore until the sea freezes again in late autumn. There are about 935 polar bears around western Hudson Bay.

The town of Churchill began as a fur-trading post for the Hudson’s Bay Company (yup, the same company where you can shop today) in 1717. That is a long time ago – the Hudson’s Bay Company was founded way back in 1670!

The fur-traders built their trading post at the mouth of the Churchill River … smack-dab on the polar bears’ seasonal migration route … not on purpose … that must have been one big, furry white “oops!”

The town of Churchill has done well anyway. It’s now an important seaport, especially for exporting grain. The grain is brought to Churchill by train. The Via Rail train is also a great way to travel to Churchill from Manitoba’s capital, Winnipeg.

Churchill gets many tourists every year who want to see wonderful sights like polar bears, beluga whales, the Northern Lights (or aurora borealis), and migrating birds. Scientists also come here to do research about the Arctic.

There are said to be about 57,000 beluga whales along the western side of Hudson Bay. 3,000 beluga whales come into the mouth of the Churchill River. The adult whales are white, but the babies are born grey.

A neat way to see polar bears in the wilderness near Churchill is by riding a “tundra vehicle.” These trucks are huge, and can rumble over all kinds of rock and ice. Tundra, by the way, means land so far north that there are few or no trees, and the sub-soil stays frozen all the time. The frozen soil is called permafrost.

Brrrr!! Personally, I think I’ll just ask my friend Dave here to bring me inside for a cup of hot chocolate.

Story © S. Clouthier

Photos © S. Clouthier and D. Wei