 |
| |
|
|
The Mad Monk
|
 |
of Ice Cream
Mar 2000
time: 23:13
|
|
quote:
Polar bears are omnivorous, but feed chiefly on marine animals such as seals and young walruses. Quite fearless, they will stalk any animal, including humans. They take advantage of carcasses left by hunters, and in summer eat vegetation on the shore. If food is scarce, their physiology can slow to a state known as walking hibernation. |
http://www.answers.com/topic/polar-bear
quote:
The Polar Bear:
The polar bear is the most deadly of all. While his normal food is seal, they have been known, for centuries, to attack humans. Until the introduction of firearms, the native people of the north have lived in fear of them. Many early explorers have told horror stories of polar bear attacks. These bears are known to stalk and hunt humans. If you are in polar bear country carry a firearm or avoid the area. |
http://www.arcticwebsite.com/BearSurvival.html
quote:
The number 675-2327 is the most important telephone number in Churchill. Every one of the 1000 citizens has memorized this number. But also a lot of the tourists know this number – after all, it is often written on many of the warning signs in and around this little town on the shores of Hudson Bay. The telephone line is manned 24 hours a day. It is more important than the police, rescue or fire department numbers. See, 675-2327 is the number of the Polar Bear Police – the only one of its kind in Churchill, Manitoba in the northeastern part of Canada.
Churchhill is the polar bear capital. Every November the citizens of Churchill have to share their living space with about 200 polar bears. This can, at times, be dangerous. Despite their lovable and playful appearance, polar bears are considered to be one of the most dangerous predators on earth. They are quick, strong and unpredictable, and they will attack without warning.
...
Polar Bear alert: "Stop, don't walk any further!" Denise, our guide, warns me as I stand beside the polar bear alert sign to take a picture. The sign is at the edge of town in front of a large rock. Behind the rock is the slowly-freezing bay. "This is not a good idea," she says as she pulls me back. She personally has seen a polar bear behind this rock twice.
What does one do in that situation, I ask? Take off your clothes and walk slowly backward, she says. Bears are naturally very curious. They inspect every article of clothing you lay down. Just don't run, and never look the bears in the eyes. This antagonizes them. It is better to make your way freezing to the next house. Because of this, all houses in Churchill are expected to remain unlocked.
But, as I try to get into my hotel, the Aurora Inn, I find the back door locked! What happens if a bear shows up now, I wonder? "Oh, he was here yesterday," says Gavin Lawrie, the proprietor, as he tries to calm me down. And, sure enough, right in front of our window are bear tracks. Very big tracks, the size of two or three human palm prints. A polar bear can be 2 1/2 to 3 meters long and up to 600 kilograms. |
http://travelingtoday.com/resources.../polarbears.htm
|
|
| |
|
|
|
General Ludd
|
 |
Minion of the Dominion
Aug 2001
time: 05:13
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by The Mad Monk
Spec, YOU said they only attack if we get too near their cubs.
Obviously, we are not their primary food supply, there's not enough of us in the arctic, and we are harder to get. However, it's clear that they WILL hunt , kill, and eat us as the opportunity arises. |
Not as the opportunity arises, but as a last resort, or in self defense - which is what Spec was arguing, I believe.
|
|
| |
|
|
|
The Mad Monk
|
|
of Ice Cream
Mar 2000
time: 23:13
|
|
You mean like this?
quote:
Polar Bear Mauls Man at Arctic Coastal Radar Site
December 1, 1993
A polar bear which had been prowling around an Arctic coast military radar facility crashed through a window of the facility, mauled a worker there, and was killed in the facility library last night. The severely injured man, a nonmilitary construction worker identified as Donald L. Chaffin, was flown to the ARCO Kuparuk medical facility, and later to an Anchorage hospital where he was in intensive care. The incident was reported to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), which has jurisdiction over polar bears, late last night.
The attack occurred at the U.S. Air Force Defense Early Warning (DEW Line) site at Oliktok Point, approximately 30 miles west of Prudhoe Bay. The site was established in the early 1950's and was presently undergoing construction.
According to reports to Service officials, the adult polar bear, approximately eight feet tall, approached the facility living quarters and peered into a ground floor window. Workers saw the bear looking in and swatted the window with a magazine to frighten it away. It returned a short time later, and they swatted the window again. After a third return and window swat, the bear came crashing through the glass and attacked the men inside. It made its way into the facility library before it was shot and killed by fellow worker Alexander Polakoff.
According to Service polar bear biologist Scott Schliebe, that bear and two or three others seen in the Oliktok Point area in recent weeks were probably attracted by the whale meat stored there by Eskimo whalers, who have hunted whales, seals, and polar bears in the Arctic Alaska for 4,000 years. The bear killed in the incident will be flown to Barrow, Alaska. There biologists will perform a necropsy of the bear in an attempt to determine whether it was undernourished, or other factors which may have affected its behavior.
The polar bear attack was the first reported to the Service since December, 1990, when a polar bear attacked and killed a man in Point Lay, Alaska. Under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the Service has trust and conservation responsibility for polar bears (Ursus maritimus, "sea bear"), which are not considered an endangered species. Service biologists estimate between 3,500 to 5,000 polar bears occupy U.S. territory around Alaska. |
http://www.lswilson.ca/pow2.htm
|
|
| |
|
|
|
General Ludd
|
|
Minion of the Dominion
Aug 2001
time: 05:13
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by The Mad Monk
You mean like this? |
Yes.
quote:
According to Service polar bear biologist Scott Schliebe, that bear and two or three others seen in the Oliktok Point area in recent weeks were probably attracted by the whale meat stored there by Eskimo whalers, who have hunted whales, seals, and polar bears in the Arctic Alaska for 4,000 years. The bear killed in the incident will be flown to Barrow, Alaska. There biologists will perform a necropsy of the bear in an attempt to determine whether it was undernourished, or other factors which may have affected its behavior. |
It was looking for whale meat, not human meat.
quote:
The polar bear attack was the first reported to the Service since December, 1990, when a polar bear attacked and killed a man in Point Lay, Alaska. Under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, the Service has trust and conservation responsibility for polar bears (Ursus maritimus, "sea bear"), which are not considered an endangered species. Service biologists estimate between 3,500 to 5,000 polar bears occupy U.S. territory around Alaska. |
The first attack in a decade and a half, and they are actively hunting humans. Right.
|
|
| |
All times are GMT. The time now is 05:13.
Apolyton Time is 00:13. |
top of page
|
|
|
Forum Rules:
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is ON
vB code is ON
Smilies are ON
[IMG] code is ON
|
|
|
|
|
|
31-03-2005 19:56
|