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Accessibility and Access Keys [4]
Around Churchill, Manitoba, one of the world's largest concentrations of polar bears gathers in the fall months to await the freeze-up of Hudson Bay. The ice provides them access to seals which make up a large portion of their diet.
Although polar bears are a major tourist attraction in the area, they can also pose a serious threat to human safety. Bears that cannot be deterred by passive means from coming into the town of Churchill are captured by the Manitoba Department of Natural Resources (MNR). Once the ice has formed most of them are released away from the town.
Some, however, are labelled problem bears and are killed, resulting in a number of orphaned cubs that are then donated to zoos around the world. Since 1980, approximately 35 bears have been sent to zoos. In the absence of any significant and effective screening process for zoos applying to receive polar bears, many of the bears now languish in small, stark facilities with very little environmental enrichment, some even in tropical climates.
In late 1996, the MNR formed an advisory committee to review the procedure for exporting polar bears to zoos. Zoocheck Canada presented to the advisory committee an extensive report examining the export program. CFHS joined the Winnipeg Humane Society and Zoocheck in calling for a ban on the export of wild polar bears to captive facilities due to the complete impossibility of providing conditions that are comparable to their natural environment. Polar bears are highly adapted to the arctic aquatic climate and frequently travel long distances on land or in the water.
In September, 1998 the Manitoba government adopted standards for zoos applying to receive polar bears. CFHS maintains its position that the physical and behavioural needs of wild polar bears cannot be met in a captive environment and therefore will continue to work to have the program ended.
