{"id":64753,"date":"2025-05-01T04:35:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T04:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/64753\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T04:35:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T04:35:10","slug":"about-last-weeks-polar-bear-attack-on-baffin-island-explorersweb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/64753\/","title":{"rendered":"About Last Week’s Polar Bear Attack on Baffin Island… \u00bb Explorersweb"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we reported yesterday, a polar bear attacked a skier in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island last week. Details are scant<\/a>, but the skier was evidently injured but all right. Authorities later shot the bear.<\/p>\n

Several of our readers commented on the incident. \u201cIt amazes me how people can be so lacking in common sense,\u201d wrote someone who identified as Jennifer. \u201cYou are trespassing on the polar bear\u2019s home, yet you blame them when you\u2019re attacked\u2026 If you stay away from them in the first place, you would not be attacked. It\u2019s simple, stay out of their habitat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy would anyone kill the bear??\u201d said Andrew. \u201cHe\u2019s living in his habitat, and people are invading it. Terrible!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith polar bears now endangered and their habitat rapidly shrinking through no fault of their own, this isn\u2019t really acceptable,\u201d agreed MW.<\/p>\n

Not the bear\u2019s fault<\/p>\n

A similar article in Baffin Island\u2019s own Nunatsiaq News<\/a> also drew several comments. Note that not all readers of this Arctic newspaper are Inuit, or even live in the north.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was 100 percent not the bear\u2019s fault, as it was obviously not a predatory attack,\u201d wrote Terry Sigurdson. \u201cThe bear was most likely protecting cubs or startled\u2026Sad ending to a preventable situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re stupid enough to go into bear or other wildlife country to ski or whatever when you are only concerned about having fun, you deserve whatever wildlife does to you,\u201d said another.<\/p>\n

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A camper beside a fresh polar bear print. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

No firearms?<\/p>\n

Finally, two readers took issue with Parks Canada\u2019s rule, mentioned in the Nunatsiaq News story, that non-Inuit are not allowed to carry firearms in Arctic national parks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is wrong in so many ways,\u201d said one. \u201cBaffin Island is not Banff. This polar bear attack is 100% the fault of Parks Canada and their crazy rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI completely agree,\u201d said another. \u201cThey should be held liable for any polar bear attacks. It\u2019s crazy to think that in Svalbard, they don\u2019t allow people to step into polar bear territory without a gun, and here they\u2019re forcing hikers to expose themselves to danger by not carrying one.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a lot to unpack here. Let\u2019s try.<\/p>\n

I may be the editor of ExplorersWeb, but I\u2019m also an Arctic traveler who has had over a dozen close calls with polar bears. I\u2019ve never had to kill one, but it\u2019s been close \u2014 for both of us. So my perspective will be affected by my experiences and by the fact that I\u2019ve chosen to travel the Arctic independently in the first place.<\/p>\n

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Claw holes from where a polar bear gently investigated a tent. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I do carry a firearm, and although I once went without one in an Arctic park where polar bears were historically rare, it was an uncomfortable gamble. Polar bears are great explorers and can show up anywhere, anytime. A tour group discovered this about 20 years ago, when a polar bear nosed around their camp on northern Ellesmere Island \u2014 in a spot where polar bears had never been seen before.<\/p>\n

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A hiking tour group had a shock in 2006 when a polar bear poked around their camp at Tanquary Fiord, Ellesmere Island. It was in a national park, and the guides did not have a firearm. Fortunately, no one was injured. Photo: Black Feather<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vulnerable vs endangered<\/p>\n

A few small corrections of the readers\u2019 comments:<\/p>\n