Video of a presentation that shows a Polar Bear and a Husky playing in the snow.
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..if only us humans could learn from this…
-soundwash
If you smelled right, the bear would play with you too.
Agreed.
Life’s too short for all of us not to be enjoying every single day in each other’s company.
Courage.
Pity they didn’t leave the camera on past the 2 minutes of the video.
The bear ‘really’ got to know the dog well after that.
#4 – didn’t watch the video to the end, eh?
Maybe the bear was just a bit lonly. I mean he is running around all the time without anyone to play so why shouldn’t he have some fun with the dogs. hehehehe
Well actually I find it quite amasing. I think that is a good example how enemies can become friends.
Let me lapse into science and semantics – before we return to normal. The bear and the dog [or wolf] aren’t so much enemies as competitors – as predators.
And, yes, competition can be healthy or destructive.
This has to do with religion because the bear didn’t bite the HELL out of the dog!
I’ve been there. I think this is likely a horrible misrepresentation of what is going on. I think it’s nice that this wild bear is playing with this captive dog. But, to call this nature is ludicrous.
The place at which this happens is highly controversial in Churchill. This guy has his dogs just past the edge of town. He deliberately overfeeds them, thus attracting the polar bears that haven’t eaten since the ice breaks up and mostly won’t eat again until the ice forms.
He then charges people, like myself, to come onto his property to photograph the dogs. Neither my camera with its 100-400mm lens nor any of the even bigger cameras I saw (500mm/F4 & 600mm/F4 lenses weighing 8-11 pounds for just the lens) nor the video cameras that the guy charges extra for, were pointed at the dogs.
This guy has essentially set up an alternate polar bear viewing site and charges money for it. The bears are wild. However, it’s like watching birds at a feeder. They count. They’re wild. It’s great to watch them. But, seeing them in close proximity to the dogs like this is far from natural.
I did it. I’m not proud of that. I was desperate to see bears and wanted as much time as I could get with them. The following day we went out in the tundra buggies and saw bears in a more natural setting. The previous three days, I had missed seeing any at Seal River. My wife and I had hoped to see them on foot, a very different experience than the tundra buggies. We were not so fortunate.
Anyway, this situation is not natural. It’s amazing to watch, but should not be misrepresented as a normal natural occurrence. In nature, if a polar who has been starving for 3 months comes across any other animal, that animal is highly likely to meet with an untimely demise. Sometimes, that animal is human.
I should add that we were told there might be something illegal about actually charging money for this on his property. I don’t remember the details. That’s why the charge is to see the dogs not the bears.
The dogs are a breed that he is allegedly trying to rescue and sell. There have been no records of any sales of his dogs nor of him using them as sled dogs.
I did get some really nice shots on his property that I was not able to repeat from the tundra buggy. However, the tundra buggy is still where I set my record for most pix in a single day, 1,796! And, some of those came out really great (by my standards) as well.
Scott, what do you do for a living (or did) that allows you to travel so extensively (as indicated from other posts)? You may have already posted it, perhaps several times before, but at any rate I’ve missed it if you did. Your lifestyle seems enviable. Thanks for the post BTW. 🙂
Rub some bacon grease on the Husky and observe the resulting changes in the bear’s behavior.
BTW, I updated my blog with a few polar bear photos, one showing the type of view possible only from the dog farm.
#11 – JimR,
I’m a geek (programmer). Being DINKs (dual income no kids) has allowed my wife and I time and resources that would not have been available to us otherwise. Often on such trips, we often find ourselves the youngest people around as most others are retirees. Not having children is an excellent way to maintain a higher level of disposable income.
In general, I find financial questions to be among the most personal questions possible and will not give any more detail than this.
Thanks for sharing that Scott. BTW, I wasn’t fishing for an income statement. Just wondering how you managed it. I have 2 boys (18, 17) looking at post secondary education now, so exciting or interesting careers are the new topic in our house.
#11
“I was desperate to see bears and wanted as much time as I could get with them.”
Here’s a website that will suit your craving for bears
http://www.resourcesforbears.com/
Angel,
You Ursidae bastard !!!
#15 – Angel,
Cute site. I was somehow expecting a rather unattractive porn site. I probably would have deserved it seeing that quote out of context.
And what does this have to do with religion??? Dogs (wolfs) are genetic cousins to bears. Not unlike humans and chimps. They share the same body language therefore they can communicate if their mood is predisposed to it… Just because the all mighty human never took th time to notice it doesn’t make it so amazing that only god’s intervention could have made it happen.
God??? pft! From the smallest mouse to the biggest elephant… If he was so perfect, why would he be so unoriginal as to use the same template for all mammals?
Peter
I understand from forest service Biologists that this type of occurance, in the wild, is often caught on film between wolf and polar bear. I would like to think that these creatures have something more than their own solitude…remember Bambi and Thumper – the real ones?
All this talk reminds me of a great pamphlet I was given by the Jehovah’s witnesses. It had all these pictures of heaven on earth – a lion playing with a small child and.. a beach ball (what else?..). Fantastic – this is going to be food for thought for a lot of religiously inclined people. Good luck to them.
Once again proving that love is boundless.