We are told that this was the hottest year ever in Northeast Canada, so the Hudson Bay Polar Bear population certainly must be on the brink of extinction. There must be dead bear bodies piled up all over the place.It would be difficult to miss a 6,000 pound animal.
Only problem is, the bears seem to be doing just fine.
http://churchillpolarbears.org/blog/
“It would be difficult to miss a 6,000 pound animal.”
Yes it would. But what does this stat have to do with polar bears?
No polar bear ever observed has weighed in at 6,000 lb.s You must be confusing them with African elephants.
That explains it. The dead bears are too small to be seen.
You stole my example!! While ‘discussing’ the “North Pond” with an alarmist on Dec 9th, I used this quote… ““Well that’s what happened this past week as the last of the furry inmates were trucked down to the edge of the Hudson Bay by Manitoba Conservation officers and released to go on their way and find lots and lots of yummy seals in snowy dens”.
Really!!!! The government has to kick them out of town!!! And temperature?… “Temperatures are right in the mid 30’s C and Friday’s wind chill is expected to be about -52 C….hibernation sounds good to me!” When he sez 30?s thats MINUS 30 !! Wonder if the pond will freeze?”
There is, however, much more in Mr. Selden’s blog. Nov 17 “Ice formation in the Hudson Bay is about three to four weeks behind schedule due to higher temperatures. This year is the lowest ice level since 1971 … The difference this season has been the higher temperatures. In Nunavut’s Foxe Basin to the North the air temperature is 14 degrees above normal and overall the temperature in the Bay itself is 4 degrees above normal… Do know that the average freeze -up in the Hudson Bay comes on November 25”
Nov 24 “On perfect cue, the arctic freeze settled into the Churchill Region just as widespread panic (not the musicians) started to surface in the media. True, the Hudson Bay was pretty much ice-free up until a week ago…but it always seems to find a way to freeze just about the same time every year. In most recent years it seems everyone has been panicking in the other direction with hopes that the bay doesn’t freeze too quickly so that the polar bears don’t evacuate the land before all travelers/photographers get good sightings”
One more interesting point of note, from Nov 18 concerning food availability to land based polar bears. “As we know the seal population has been doing strange things this season. Aside from stranding themselves in the intertidal zone at low tide earlier in the season, one bearded seal was found about two miles inland wandering along down an access road.
Some exciting information related to these occurrences has come to light. Orca whales (killer whales) have been seen recently in the bay; possibly accounting for the strange suicidal seals on land. Having guided 11 seasons of Churchill Summer whale tours, I have only heard rumors of one other Summer sighting of orca’s in the bay and never of any Fall sightings. . Exciting news indeed” In the comments section to the article Mr. Selden mentions this… “Although rare, the sightings of orca’s in the bay just means that they do come near Churchill periodically. I theorized that might be one reason why there were so many seal kills by polar bears this season. They may have driven some seals into the shallows.”
If this is indeed the case, would a reduction in ice cover increase frequency of killer whale appearances and subsequently increase food availability to the bears?
Also of interest is that this site is ” ‘co’powered by World Wildlife Fund”!
All the best…. Jeff
PS… I often find quirky tidbits like the above post, would you be interested in being told of them?
http://www.realzionistnews.com