{"id":270551,"date":"2023-07-31T13:28:09","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T11:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=270551"},"modified":"2023-07-31T13:28:23","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T11:28:23","slug":"repeat-of-2013-high-profile-sierra-club-polar-bear-attack-this-time-with-inuit-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=270551","title":{"rendered":"Repeat of 2013 high-profile Sierra Club polar bear attack, this time with Inuit victims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From polarbearscience<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost 10 years later to the day, another polar bear attack resulting in serious injury has taken place in the northern Labrador\/Quebec region of Eastern Canada. Remember the\u00a0Sierra Club lawyer<\/a>\u00a0snatched, tent and all, in the middle of the night on\u00a024 July 2013<\/a>, in an\u00a0almost-fatal attack<\/a>\u00a0that was reported around the world, see\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/a>? This time virtually the same thing happened to two Inuuk campers on July 26, in the same general area, as reported last week by\u00a0Nunavut News<\/a>. This will undoubtedly renew concerns that\u00a0Davis Strait Inuit have raised<\/a>\u00a0about their safety in the face of high population numbers of polar bears (Tomaselli et al. 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sea ice conditions were similar in both attacks. In 2013, the attacking bear appeared to be a fully adult male in good condition that had been watching the hiking party since the previous day but this year the predatory bear was described as a small \u201cyoung adult\u201d animal, suggesting it could have been a 3-4 year old female or perhaps a 2 year old male.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Location<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation region encompasses most of Eastern Canada from the southeastern shore of Baffin Island to Newfoundland, as the map from the Dyck et al. 2021 report shows (see below).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The approximate locations where the attacks took place were on opposite sides of the land mass that separates Ungava Bay, Quebec from the Labrador Sea: on the Labrador Sea side in 2013, in\u00a0Torngat Mountains National Park<\/a>, and the Ungava Bay side in 2023, marked on a map from the first report on bears of this region (Stirling and Kiliaan 1980), where the big arrows indicate the direction of ocean currents:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2023 Attack<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quotes below are from the\u00a0Nunatsiaq News<\/em>\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0(27 July 2023). Note the community of\u00a0Kangiqsualujjuaq<\/a><\/em>\u00a0is marked as \u201cGeorge River\u201d on the map above (my emphasis):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 70-year-old man and his son and daughter survived a polar bear attack in their tent Wednesday night<\/strong>\u00a0[July 26] near Kangiqsualujjuaq, the village\u2019s mayor says.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenny Assevak and his daughter Siqua Baron, 25, were taken to Kuujjuaq\u2019s hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries. Assevak\u2019s 35-year-old son, Neekallak Baron \u2014 who killed the bear \u2014 was not injured, said Kangiqsualujjuaq Mayor Maggie Emudluk.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It happened about 140 kilometres northeast of Kangiqsualujjuaq, where the attack victims live. At around 3 a.m. Wednesday, Emudluk received a call saying three people who were travelling toward Killiniq had been attacked by a polar bear.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That morning, thick fog covered the community, meaning helicopter rescue was out of the question.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At around 4 a.m., a boat rescue team was mobilized and at 6:15 a.m., they arrived at the scene where they took both injured victims.<\/em>\u00a0\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two victims made it back to the community at around 8:15 a.m.., where both were immediately medevaced to Kuujjuaq.\u00a0Assevak was then transported to Montreal for treatment of his injuries.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was not even a big polar bear,\u201d Emudluk said, \u201cit was a young adult polar bear.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Canadian Ice Service weekly stage of development chart below shows, sea ice had been present offshore as recently as the first week of July and only recently retreated from the area near the attack, which means the bear had likely only been onshore a few weeks at most. Although most polar bears are in the best condition of the year when they come off the ice, young bears are the exception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because young bears are unable to successfully compete with older bears for prime hunting habitat, they are likely to be in less than ideal condition in early summer and therefore most likely to initiate predatory attacks on people (Amstrup 2003; Wilder et al. 2017). A young bear was responsible for a similar early-morning\u00a0fatal attack on a camper<\/a>\u00a0in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2013 Attack<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The account summary below is from\u00a0my 2014 blog pos<\/a>t on the Torngat Mountains attack on Maine lawyer Matt Dyer, who ultimately\u00a0had to be air-lifted to Montreal\u00a0<\/a>for medical treatment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven hikers set out on a two week long adventure organized by the Sierra Club.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mauling happened in the middle of the night of the third day, about 2:30am, despite the electric perimeter fence they had in place.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group assumed the bear that attacked the victim (Matt Dyer) was the same big male that had advanced on their campsite the afternoon before.\u00a0The bear had come within 30-50 yards but retreated when the group fired some flares at it. But the bear stayed nearby, watching.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hikers knew he was there but apparently were not especially concerned. The bear attacked Dyer tent and all: it just pounced on the one-man tent and hauled the whole package away down the beach. The other hikers fired off some flares. The bear dropped Dyer and left.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bear was not pursued in the days afterward and was not shot.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the ice chart below shows, sea ice had only retreated from the Labrador coast at the time of the attack, since thick ice was still present offshore during the first week in July:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most odd about this 2013 account is that no photos of the bear that attacked Dyer have ever been made public. I find it implausible that no photos exist, given the circumstances, but quite possible that the group agreed to suppress any images taken of the bear because it was in excellent condition and not the starving polar bear of the\u00a0climate change narrative<\/a>\u00a0they later concocted (Crockford 2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polar bears reestablishing former northern Labrador territory<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in the 1970s, when polar bear numbers in Davis Strait were low (Stirling and Kiliaan 1980), there were few records of bears spending the summer and denning along the shores of northern Labrador and northeast Ungava Bay, Quebec, see circled region on map below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, according to the\u00a0latest survey<\/a>, that has changed now that the\u00a0population has rebounded<\/a>\u00a0(Crockford 2023; Dyck et al. 2021; Peacock et al. 2013). The island in the middle of Ungava Bay is a major denning area for pregnant polar bears and some may now den along the mainland coast as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
From Dyck et al. 2021, tip of Ungava Peninsula marked by me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amstrup, S.C. 2003<\/strong>. Polar bear (Ursus maritimus<\/em>). In\u00a0Wild Mammals of North America,<\/em>\u00a0G.A. Feldhamer, B.C. Thompson and J.A. Chapman (eds), pg. 587-610. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crockford, S.C. 2015.<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cA Harrowing Encounter.\u201d\u00a0Range Magazine<\/a><\/em>, Spring: 42-43.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crockford, S.J. 2023.<\/strong>\u00a0The Polar Wildlife Report. Global Warming Policy Foundation Briefing 63, London. pdf\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dyck, M., Dunham, K.D., Ware, J.V., et al. 2021.\u00a0<\/strong>Re-estimating the abundance of the Davis Strait polar bear subpopulation by genetic mark-recapture. Final Report [amended 9 May 2022], Government of Nunavut, Department of Environment, Iglulik. pdf\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peacock, E., Taylor, M.K., Laake, J., and Stirling, I. 2013.<\/strong>\u00a0Population ecology of polar bears in Davis Strait, Canada and Greenland.\u00a0Journal of Wildlife Management<\/em>77:<\/strong>463\u2013476.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stirling, I. and Kiliaan, H.P.L. 1980.<\/strong>\u00a0Population ecology studies of the polar bear in northern Labrador. Occasional Paper 42, Canadian Wildlife Service. pdf\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomaselli, M., Henri, D., Pangnirtung Hunters and Trappers Organization, et al. 2022.<\/strong>\u00a0Nunavut Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit on the health of the Davis Strait polar bear population. Final project report, Government of Nunavut. pdf\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wilder, J.M., Vongraven, D., Atwood, T., et al. 2017.<\/strong>\u00a0Polar bear attacks on humans: implications of a changing climate.\u00a0Wildlife Society Bulletin<\/em>\u00a041(3):537-547.\u00a0https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/wsb.783<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost 10 years later to the day, another polar bear attack resulting in serious injury has taken place in the northern Labrador\/Quebec region of Eastern Canada. Remember the\u00a0Sierra Club lawyer\u00a0snatched, tent and all, in the middle of the night on\u00a024 July 2013, in an\u00a0almost-fatal attack\u00a0that was reported around the world, see\u00a0here\u00a0and\u00a0here? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":270568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691820083,691821484,691821483,691821482],"class_list":{"0":"post-270551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-labrador-territory","10":"tag-polar-bear-attack","11":"tag-sierra-club","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/00polar-bears-alaska.webp?fit=2000%2C1333&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-18nJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":212631,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=212631","url_meta":{"origin":270551,"position":0},"title":"Polar bear shot after early morning attack on French tourist camping in Svalbard","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"09\/08\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"However, the sad truth is that polar bears are always looking for an easy meal even if they are in good condition.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0svalbard-attack-headline-barents-observer-mon-8-aug-2022.jpg?fit=819%2C719&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0svalbard-attack-headline-barents-observer-mon-8-aug-2022.jpg?fit=819%2C719&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0svalbard-attack-headline-barents-observer-mon-8-aug-2022.jpg?fit=819%2C719&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/0svalbard-attack-headline-barents-observer-mon-8-aug-2022.jpg?fit=819%2C719&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":213277,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=213277","url_meta":{"origin":270551,"position":1},"title":"\u201aAlone ‘and \u201aAlone Frozen ‘survivor reality show participants were never at risk of a polar bear attack","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"12\/08\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Spoiler Alert! Participants of the History Channel\u2019s\u00a0Season 9 \u2018Alone\u2019\u00a0and its spinoff,\u00a0\u2018Alone: Frozen\u2019\u00a0reality shows were never at risk of a polar bear attack despite the marketing hype claiming they were, because coastal\u00a0Labrador\u00a0is only \u2018polar bear territory\u2019 when pack ice is present offshore, which it wasn\u2019t when the shows were filmed. Shocking,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-437.png?fit=935%2C562&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-437.png?fit=935%2C562&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-437.png?fit=935%2C562&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/image-437.png?fit=935%2C562&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":240200,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=240200","url_meta":{"origin":270551,"position":2},"title":"Here comes the pack ice for the Canadian East Coast","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/01\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Davis Strait pack ice is now descending on the Labrador coast. 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