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four km/h. Our first glimpse of an Ursis maritimus is of one curious about another buggy. Though only a few buggies are allowed in the wildlife management area at a time, there's a code among drivers from the competing tour companies. Marc Hebert, our driver, asks for our trust in him to find our own bears to observe. It's not hard to listen to Marc, who looks like he's just arrived from central casting, with a French-Canadian charm that could melt the ice on Hudson Bay in January (not that we want that to happen). We'll never chase a bear, or disturb them. And feeding or baiting is illegal. I think about this a bit later, as soup is poured from Thermoses and sandwiches are unwrapped. Bears have an acute sense of smell, able to sniff out seals under metres of ice. Driving a food-laden buggy out into the polar-beardense tundra seems a little like leaving a picnic basket out for Yogi and Boo-Boo at Jellystone Park. Our guide Derek Kyostia certainly seems as hungry as a polar bear in October. For knowledge, that is. He's not only an expert on polar bears but also a guide for grizzlyspotting in coastal British Columbia and penguin-gawking in Antarctica. He says approximately 25,000 to 40,000 polar bears currently exist across five countries. In 1987, the Western Hudson Bay bear population was estimated to be around 1,200; today, the estimate is 935. For the most-studied bear population in the world, many questions remain, says Kyostia, adding that polar bears are a flagship species. In particular, because the Churchill population is at the southern extreme of the bears' range, the effects of climate change turn up here first. In 2009, for example, the season was marked by a late breakup of ice on Hudson Bay, so bears had more time to hunt and fatten up to prepare for their time on shore. However, the fall freeze up came two weeks longer than expected. Climate models predict a decline in ice cover on Hudson Bay over the next 20 years. And without ice to hunt on, bears are spending more time on shore without a ready source of food. As we talk, we spot a bear – and he spots us. He circles the buggy, rises up on his hind legs, leans his massive front paws onto the side of the vehicle and peers inside. I'm almost eye-to-eye with a 405-kilogram polar bear – and I'm thrilled. I feel a bit like Little Red Riding Hood meeting the wolf. "My, what big paws you have . . . ." When the buzz of the encounter wears off, I realize my initial fear has been overtaken by a stronger one for the future of the bears, and with it a new sense of responsibility. The safe distance I wanted to maintain was also a safe mental distance from my part in their future. For me now, though, Churchill's bears are no longer an abstraction. Rather, as Kyostia points out, they're unwitting motivators. "Modern life is filled with so many distractions, all within arm's reach," he says. "Here, people can escape that. They can see one of the most amazing creatures up close, and be moved to make a difference at home." First published in Going Places magazine, Life in the Fur Lane by Claudine Gervais won the Gold Award Best Article – Manitoba at the 2011 Western Magazine Awards. WestWorld Tours' 19th annual Churchill tour, in association with SARM, is planned for August 2014. Stay tuned for travel details at westworldtours.com. Continued on page 33 Westworld p26-33_Life-FurLane.indd 31 >> fa l l 2 0 1 3 31 13-08-19 8:59 AM