Polar bear chases man, charges Manitoba Conservation officers' truck

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A polar bear, photographed from the Churchill Health Centre, paces near Hudson Bay as it keeps a man trapped. (LAURA GRAY-ELLIS / FOR THE WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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   • Man says conservation officers saved him from becoming bear's breakfast

The dark, hooded figure hiding behind the rocks wasn't the predator.

He was the prey.

Early Monday morning, a fellow in Churchill was walking along the shore of Hudson Bay and snapping photographs when he came face to face with a polar bear. The chance encounter happened at about 6:30 a.m., just behind the Churchill Health Centre.

Laura Gray-Ellis, a nurse who witnessed the dramatic scene through several windows from the safe confines of the centre, said the bear kept its distance at first -- but when the man bolted from the beach, the animal began to chase.

"The guy started running toward the rocks and the bear started running after him," she said.

"The bear stopped to sniff around, and the guy had a chance to go back and pick up his camera."

The man, whose identity remains a mystery, high-tailed it to safety just as Manitoba Conservation officers arrived -- responding to a call on their 24-hour emergency Polar Bear Alert line.

"Conservation showed up and started shooting off bear-bangers (projectile firecrackers), but it wasn't too deterred. The bear walked right up to the one (officer), and so the other one drove the truck in between them," Gray-Ellis said.

"The bear ran into town.... I could see him right near my apartment building."

Bob Windsor, a natural resources officer in Churchill, was behind the wheel of the truck. He said the bear charged at the vehicle no fewer than five times while he and resource management assistant Jack Batstone tried to shepherd the animal away from the apartments.

"I've never seen behaviour like that," said Windsor, who has had plenty of encounters with polar bears in his two years in Churchill.

"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 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.

"Put it this way... I need a new hood," Windsor said.

Finally, the polar bear was shot and killed.

"This was the first of the year and, hopefully, the last," he said, adding officers in Churchill are rarely forced to destroy a problem bear. This was only the second animal shot in three years.

The bear, which had been tagged several years ago by the Canadian Wildlife Service, was a 17-year-old male, relatively thin at exactly 270 kilograms.

A healthy polar bear at that age would average about 450 kilograms.

Windsor said he last saw the hooded man, whom he did not recognize, running toward a home near a church.

Locals figure he must be a tourist because going for an early morning walk along Hudson Bay -- even a few months before the "polar bear season" -- isn't a particularly wise decision.

"We know not to go down there," said Helen, who works at Gypsy Bakery. "The locals know because the bears are starting to come to town now."

Windsor said his office received its first call of a bear sighting this season on June 24.

The Churchill region has one of the largest polar bear denning areas in the world.

When the ice melts on Hudson Bay at the start of summer, the bears come ashore for a couple of months to laze around and conserve energy, according to information from the Churchill Northern Studies Centre.

The polar bear population is scattered along the coast in July and August, and a few strays are occasionally seen in town. The best time to safely view polar bears from vehicles specifically built for travel over the tundra is September through November during the annual migration.

Gray-Ellis, a native of Toronto who has been a nurse in Churchill for more than two years, vividly recalls her first polar bear sighting in February 2009.

"I was super excited... It was walking behind the hospital on the beach," she said. "It was incredible. They are so much bigger than you think."

One hooded visitor to Churchill can attest to that.

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 6, 2011 A2