Manitoba campers witness polar bear emerge from ocean, launch into hunt

A group of 4-H campers visiting Churchill, Man., got the show of a lifetime, after a polar bear walked out of the ocean, interrupted their bonfire, and launched into a hunt.

Jenafor and Gerald Azure own and operate Blue Sky Expeditions located on the outskirts of the town of Churchill. They reached out to CityNews to share their story.

Last week the couple was touring a group of 4-H youth around the polar bear capital of the world and decided to end the trip with a fire on the beach.

Gerald scouted the location in advance and with no polar bears in sight, the group lit a fire and decided to make some s’mores. Suddenly a massive polar bear emerged, says Gerald, who at first thought the bear was a large white rock.

“I told everyone ‘don’t panic’, just walk to the van and get inside,” he recounted. “‘Don’t run.’ So that’s what everyone did.”

Gerald estimates the bear was around 1,000 pounds and thinks it drifted in with the tide of the Hudson Bay approximately 80 metr4s away. With everyone safely inside vehicles, the group decided to stay and watch the bear.

Photo of a polar bear. (Photo Credit: Angela Mak)

“This polar bear stood up, at lightning speed, and ran,” said Jenafor.

It ran straight towards a pair of geese swimming in a pond close to where the group had set up their fire.

Gerald says in three strides the bear was moving at around 30 kilometres per four and dove into the water, coming out with a goose between its teeth.

“This was the first time we have actually seen one of the bears make a kill,” said Gerald.

Gerald says it’s not rare to see a polar bear snacking on seaweed or eating a beluga whale carcass washed up, however it is incredibly rare to see a bear launch into a hunt and successfully kill its prey – let alone witness the event from a short distance away.

Photo of a polar bear. (Photo Credit: Melanie Young)

“And so, we just continued watching it, and I just happened to have a laser range finder on me for hunting, so I was shooting the distance of it and for the most part it was around that, 30 to 40 metres,” said Quinn Young, a 4-H camper.

Young says as the bear continued to eat the goose, walk around, and shake the water out of its fur, his range finder started reading distances of 20 metres away.

“Which is pretty close to be to a thousand-pound bear,” he said.

Young says the experience was really cool and says everyone should try to get to Churchill once in their lifetime to witness polar bears in their natural habitat.

The Azures agree, but also stress this is the bears’ home and people are the visitors. This unique experience ended with big smiles and great memories, explained Jenafor, but tourists need to remember if they get too close to a bear it could be fatal for them and the animal.

Tragically many polar bears have been shot and killed because people have put themselves in danger and the bear lost its life as a result, she says.

“These kids got the opportunity to witness something I don’t think they will witness again in their life,” said Jenafor. “Everybody wants the picture… and I get that, but safety first, and not just for us but safety for the bears.”

The Azures reached out to CityNews to share his story. You can share yours here.