July 24, 2023 - Damn what a day. We started our day with a sad but amazing morning watching the polar bear police and wildlife management tranquilize two bears. A mom and her three year old cub.

They had become problem bears. Sneaking into town at night and going through the garbage.

The polar bear police had set up traps to capture them, but they were not working.

So sadly the bears had to be captured the hard way.

We had just finished breakfast and were out for a stroll when we saw a helicopter in the distance. Underneath the chopper we could see the two bears running for their lives by the train tracks.

We jumped out of the Falcon, our trusty steed, and watched the story unfold safely from the distance. Thankfully we all had long lenses and were able to document this exciting capture. Of course I only had my 100-400mm with me and I definitely needed more lens to document it properly, but I am happy with what I was able to capture.

The helicopter was following the bears, and the bears were running back and forth trying to get away, but they couldn’t. By the time we got there, the bears were exhausted.

The mom and cub. Both are exhausted and stressed from the chase. You can see the dart hanging on the mom’s butt in this shot.

They were using the helicopter to get close to the mother so that they could tranquilize her first. After they shot her, it didn’t take long for her to go down.

The loyal cub stayed by her side the whole time.

Once she was out, the rangers came in and shot the cub up close with a dart, that quickly knocked him out.

I felt bad for the bears. But unfortunately it was necessary. If the bears continued sneaking into town, eventually they would run into someone and an accident could happen and the bears would have to be put down.

So it is best to capture them, lock them up for a week or two, and make the experience as negative as possible, so that when the bears are released they will not want to return to town anymore.

At least in theory they won’t.

The moment, Shantel, the wildlife ranger shot the bear from the helicopter. I got lucky and captured it on my phone.

Once they were sure the bears were knocked out, they brought out a stretcher and hand carried the mom first to the back of a truck that was fitted with special wheels to ride on the rail road tracks.

She was big.

When they got the bears to the compound, they weighed them. The mom weighed in at 600 plus pounds and the cub weighed more than 400.

The ranger rode with the mom bear, keeping an eye on her while they she being transferred.

Once they got the railway truck to a level road they transferred the bears to the back of the ranger’s trucks and off they went to the compound where they will keep them.

The locals call it Polar Bear Jail.

I have been traveling to Churchill for years. You hear about these bear captures, but I had never seen it. It was amazing to watch it all first hand.

I was torn on how to feel about it.

I felt bad for the bears… They do not know they are doing anything wrong. They are just being bears and living in a world that they do not understand.

On the other hand, I also get what the authorities are trying to do. They are trying to keep both people and the bears safe.

So it is a necessary evil.

They don’t want to do this to them. But when you have a town full of people to protect, it has to be done.

We watched the bears get driven off, all of us filled with emotions at what we all just experienced. We silently wished the bears well.

It was a happy/sad moment.

I just hope that the bears will remember this experience and never return to town again.