Hungry polar bears turn to cannibalism
abc
Hungry polar bears turn to cannibalism
December 3, 2009
According to Manitoba Conservation, at least four cases of polar bear
cannibalism have been confirmed in the northeastern Manitoba community
of Churchill this year. Several more cases are being investigated.
According to Manitoba Conservation, at least four cases of polar bear
cannibalism have been confirmed in the northeastern Manitoba community
of Churchill this year. Several more cases are being investigated.
Photograph by: John Lucas, Edmonton Journal
Faced with a shrinking habitat in Canada's Arctic, polar bears are
increasingly turning on their own kind in an act of hungry desperation.
According to Manitoba Conservation, at least four cases of polar bear
cannibalism have been confirmed in the northeastern Manitoba community
of Churchill this year. Several more cases are being investigated.
Scientist Andy Derocher, who has spent more than 25 years studying
polar bears in the Western Hudson Bay area, said the water usually
freezes by mid-November, allowing the bears to drift away from the main
land and hunt seals.
Warmer than normal temperatures this year have delayed that, he said.
"The cannibalism events are really just a manifestation of the effects
of global warming on the bears," Derocher said. "It's an act of
desperation; it's what they do when they can't find something else to
eat.
"The rub here is that they've now been forced to sit on land for an
extra month . . . The animals are winding down on the stored body fat
that they have."
Infanticide occurs among all bear species, according the Polar Bears
International, but, in the past, Manitoba has only received one report
annually.
The organization said 20 years ago, polar bears would return to the ice
in the Western Hudson Bay on Nov. 8; a decade ago that date extended to
Nov. 20.
"It occurs with sparse regularity," said John Gunter, general manager
of tour group Frontiers North Adventures, which leads polar bear
expedition trips in Churchill.
On Nov. 20, one of his company's tours came across a case of polar bear
cannibalization. "It was a sombre day after that event occurred."
Dubbed the polar bear capital of the world, about 16,000 tourists pass
through Churchill each year.
Gunter said he's only heard of two other such cases in the past 30
years.
The group � consisting of mainly amateur and professional photographers
� captured a number of graphic images of the adult male eating a young
cub.
"Seeing a natural event like this occur, no one was broken down by it,"
said Gunter of the naturalists reaction to the gruesome scene. "I think
the real story here is what is causing the event."
Derocher said a week of -20 C temperatures should stop the
cannibalization issues for the polar bears � at least for this year.
But he said a rapid climate-change action plan is needed soon, or the
long-term effects of dwindling sea ice caused by warmer temperature
could be catastrophic.
"The problem for polar bears is it is nothing more than a habitat loss
issue � we are taking their habitat away from them and there is no real
place for them to go," Derocher said.
"Down the road, if this sort of continued erosion of habitat continues
. . . we could start to see very serious mortality rates."
According to Polar Bears International, there are 20,000 to 25,000
polar bears worldwide, with about 60 per cent living in Canada.
An international climate change summit begins next week in Copenhagen
where countries are attempting to reach a new political agreement to
address rising greenhouse gas emissions that are believed to cause
global warming.