Flying Bears

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Flying Bears.jpg
Flying Bears.jpg1000×1500 372 KB

Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction

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What are they doing, and why?

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Image Description

Known as the “polar bear capital of the world,” the town of Churchill in Manitoba, Canada, with its approximately 800 permanent residents, is perched on a spit of land between the western shore of Hudson Bay and the Churchill River. For centuries, this peninsula has been the polar bear’s natural point of access to the bay. It is the first place the Bay freezes over to allow the bears access to their prey, ringed seals. They migrate here about six weeks before they can gain access to the ice.
The residents of Churchill are tolerant of the bears, in general, but if a bear becomes a nuisance in town or the garbage dump, they take a very aggressive approach. Bothersome bears are tranquilized, captured, and carted off to polar bear jail. They are kept in captivity for 30 days, given only water to drink. They are then tranquilized again and transported back to town. Once in town the drugged bears are placed into cargo nets and attached to a 50 foot cable extending from the bottom of a helicopter. These “flying” bears are then transported up the coast of Hudson Bay. How far they fly them depends on whether they are first time offenders, or recalcitrant recidivists. Generally the flight is 40 miles, but can extend more than 60 miles. The bears are tagged with colored paint spots to identify them and be able to determine their wandering habits after release. Particularly problematic bears are flown progressively further away in hopes they won’t return to town. Rarely are the bears put down.

Technical Details

Canon EOS 10D; Canon EF 28-70mm @ 48mm; f/11 @ 1/180 sec, -1 EV, ISO 100; handheld

Specific Feedback

Is there enough, too much, or too little information in the photograph to convey a sense of place and what is transpiring. Anything competing with the story?

2

Looks like a family relocation after visiting the vet for a physical. Very nice photo. Immediate reaction: Wish I could have been there.

3

Thank you @ Jim Gavin for your comments. I did not know about this method of wildlife control until this visit. I kept noticing helicopters fly by our camp at Dymond Lake, and the staff simply said “Flying Bears” I was intrigued but could not actively get much more information until I spent some time in Churchill, at the jail and took a helicopter out to view the bears from the air. All of a sudden the pilot announced we were returning to Churchill because he needed to pick up some bears to fly out. This was the perfect opportunity to watch and learn more about why and how they performed the task.

4

A very neat image, Bob, and one that tells a story, though it leaves a lot of detail to the viewer. It’s the sort of thing that works well in a magazine article on the hows and whys of relocating these bears. With this image, you could just about cover the story in a caption.

5

Thank you @Dennis_Plank for your observations. My primary reason to venture to Churchill in late Fall was the bears. This story is one of many within my time there. I published a book about that time and those experiences.

6

Looks like a day on the shores of the Hudson Bay in Churchill.

I see I am right. I have been there and seen the Dump Bears that the inhabitants look at with some disdain. My heart is saddened by the warming of the ice and the plot of the bears.

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Thank you @Barbara_Djordjevic for your comments. My research into the technique used in Churchill was encouraging. The recidivism rate is low. In the past they simply put the bears down in Churchill. With total bear numbers declining this is a better solution. Since the bears are a huge tourist attraction the residents realized it was their responsibility to help preserve the population of bears to help the residents survive. A change in attitude.

8

That is good to know. I do know they were airlifting bears out when we were there.