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Man says conservation officers saved him from becoming bear's breakfast
Wayne MacRae (head barely visible behind rock) was trapped at shore as the bear walked back and forth along the rocks. (LAURA GRAY-ELLIS PHOTO)
"That's the hospital right behind him, so if he does eat my arm I don't have far to go."
-Wayne MacRae, narrating his video encounter with a polar bear
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The man who evaded a stalking polar bear in Churchill last week says he knew he was in serious trouble.
Wayne MacRae, a railway contractor from Vancouver who spent a few days in the northern Manitoba town, was on the beach taking video of beluga whales in Hudson Bay last Monday when he looked over his shoulder and saw a polar bear.
The huge animal was prowling the area between MacRae and the safety of the townsite.
"At first, the bear was working his way away from me, and I thought I was in the clear," MacRae said. "Then he started throwing his head in the air and sniffing the air, circling back towards me, coming in my direction at a trotting pace.
"That’s when I started to get freaked out and running for my life."
MacRae, who videoed portions of the encounter, said he was in full sprint when officers with Manitoba Conservation arrived and drove their pick-up truck between him and the polar bear, instructing MacRae to head toward some nearby homes.
"People that have lived here all their lives said it was a once-in-a-lifetime event," he said. "I'm just glad someone called the conservation officers, because 20-30 seconds later I would have been the bear’s breakfast."
Bob Windsor, a natural resources officer in Churchill said he watched the man run to safety, and then he and resource management assistant Jack Batstone turned their attention to the bear as it lumbered into town.
The animal charged at the vehicle no fewer than five times while they tried to guide it away from the a block of apartments, Windsor said last week.
"I’ve never seen behaviour like that," he said.
"Some are hard to chase away, some are reluctant but they go. But I haven’t seen the aggression like that. For the safety of the people in town, this one had to be put down."
The bear walked back down the road, alongside the Churchill Health Centre, and actually stood up and peered through several windows, pushing against one.
Windsor said they waited for a safe moment to take a shot, but the bear reared up again and smashed its huge paws down on the front of the truck.
The polar bear was finally shot and killed.
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