WIAdmin, 11. September 2017

The 1st of August 2017 – a day we will never forget! This experience impressed us too surprisingly and intensively! Without any doubt the first encounter with a wild polar bear was the greatest impression.

In front of Churchill, the boreal forest meets the Arctic tundra – which was wearing its summer dress. Many of the tundras inhabitants showed up on this beautiful arctic-fresh summer day!

Beisde our first spectacular polar bear encounter we observed caribous, arctic hare, bald eagles, cranes and many other bird species. The flowering Fireweed puts the whole scenery in fantastic colors – together with a polar bear almost unreal! It was a day that burned with its impressions firmly in our minds and memories. At the same time we were irritated by an extreme smell of gas, which occurred from time to time.

Polar bears in this summerlike environment?

Their population of this area is around 900 polar bears – at 900 inhabitants!

Ten years ago there were 1200 polar bears! But also here at the Hudson Bay, the ice goes earlier and comes back later during the year! Many of the polar bears are still following the ice out on Hudson Bay, but some are still in the tundra around Churchill.

The polar bear belongs to the order of the Carnivora – which means „meat eater“. But actually he is a pure „fat eater“. „Out of one kilo of fat, he lays a whopping 980 grams in his own body weight. Until the ice comes, energy saving is his top priority! “ tells our driver Jim.

From October to November nearly the whole population is waiting for the ice in front of the gates of Churchills. It is the ice what makes it possible to hunt seals! Then the 900 soul site becomes the „Polar Bear Capital of the World“. But the bears do not always remain outside the borders of the town.

This is why doors in churchill stay open for 24 hours… and without exception they have to be opened to the outside!

Three days ago a polar bear wandered along the streets.
Churchill and his polar bears are for sure a topic on itself!

The meeting with the polar bear has touched us! Where does the journey go for this majestic animal?

In times when an American president is selling climate change as an invention of the Chinese and wants to return to coal?!

Where in climate conventions not the reason but a lazy compromise to ever-growing economic expansion holds the upper hand…for ever more powerful diffuse concern constructs?!

Where the species of human beings squeezes 1.5 times as much resources out of our planet what the earth is able to give – and we just don’t want to learn that there are no deals to make with Mother Nature?!

Mamma Polar Bear could tell us what it means – and how vital it is to save energy … and to use resources with sense and respect!