Watch a Canadian Man’s Terrifyingly Close Encounter With a Massive Polar Bear

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Polar bears are magnificent creatures but not really an animal that you want to get too close to. Unless you live in Canada that is!

Check out the amazing footage below and fall in love with polar bears – forever!

Where Do Polar Bears Live?

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are members of the Ursidae family. They are large animals that can grow to weigh over 1,300 pounds and can be over eight feet in length.

Their range is called a ‘circumpolar distribution’. They are found throughout the Arctic region but have also been found in Greenland and Iceland. There is a population in the Canadian Arctic archipelago.

Polar bears are facing numerous threats to their survival, not least global warming which is diminishing the ice floes on which they live. Some subpopulations are faring better than others.

The bad news is that populations around the Southern Beaufort Sea and Northern Beaufort Sea are declining. However, the populations around the Chuckchi Sea and the Barents Sea are stable.

Polar Bears in Canada

The small Canadian town of Churchill on the shores of Canada’s Hudson Bay is a little more than 1,000 miles north of the provincial capital of Winnipeg. It also has a very special relationship with polar bears! It is a very remote area on the fringes of the Arctic.

In the summer, polar bears come ashore here as the sea ice on Hudson Bay melts. During ‘bear season’ thousands of people flock here to see the bears. They are mostly viewed on the tundra outside of the town from the safety of buses. That’s all very well for a visitor but the residents have to learn how to live safely with these wonderful animals.

Living Safely With Polar Bears

The bear in this clip looked very timid and did not interact with the human. However, we have to remember that they are potentially dangerous animals. In the Canadian town of Churchill, there is a Polar Bear Alert Program and there is a bear hotline. There are even perimeter defenses that comprise culvert traps, baited with seal scent. Bears caught in these are held for 30 days before being sedated and taken by helicopter back to the wild!

Is It Normal Behavior for Polar Bears to Interact with People?

Being apex predators, polar bears present a significant threat to human life and property. Across their habitat, incidents involving polar bears attacking humans and causing property damage are on the rise. Reports suggest that from 1870-2014 there have been 73 documented cases of direct human attacks within the areas inhabited by polar bears.

Polar bears possess exceptional hunting skills and exhibit a fierce nature. They should be avoided if spotted in the wild.