Fat polar bears causing trouble onshore in Labrador plus sightings in Newfoundland
What sounds like a mother and half-grown cub paid a visit to a cabin outside Black Tickle, Labrador and frightened the residents trapped inside. The aggressive female was part of at least 10 bears seen around the community on 14 April 2019 and photos of one of them show a bear in excellent condition. A bear in good condition was also spotted on the north coast of Newfoundland over the weekend, delivered to land by sea ice that’s moving back into the area after winds blew it offshore last month. Near Black Tickle Labrador, mid-April 2019. Carrie Dyson photo. Labrador sightings Despite the claims of being frightened out of their wits, note the photo above: they weren’t so scared that they were willing to forego a photo opportunity. Here is the CBC report (17 April 2019), where the witness accounts all refer to the animal as “he”: Carrie Dyson says both she and her husband are lucky to be alive after a “horrifying” close encounter with a polar bear at their cabin near Black Tickle, Labrador. They were sitting down to breakfast at their summer home in Batteau, when Dyson’s husband spotted two polar bears prowling around their friend’s cabin nearby, one at the door and the other looking in the windows. Dyson’s husband took off on his snowmobile, and the noise scared the animals off. About 30 minutes later, there was a polar bear at Dyson’s cabin. “And I tell you, he wasn’t a very nice bear,” she said. The couple banged on the windows and doors to try to startle the animal, but the bear wouldn’t budge. Instead, it just continued to stare at them. “He was hissing at us, he was growling at us, and nope, there was no movement,” Dyson said. “He was in for the hunting. I think we were his hunt.” … At one point, the bear — which Dyson described as aggressive — took a chunk out of her snowmobile, parked out back of the cabin. “Just one smack with his teeth like that, and the piece was gone out of my seat,” she said. Read the rest here. Bears are in hunting mode this time of year and are driven to eat as much as possible. Map showing the location of Black Tickle and Batteau is below: both are on an island off the mainland coast of Labrador. Sea ice map of Labrador for that date, showing plenty of ice offshore for hunting: Photos submitted to the CBC by Black Tickle resident Tara Keefe shows one bear out of ten spotted on 14 April that is in excellent condition: Just a regular day in Black Tickle Tara Keefe sent us these pictures and said there were around 10 polar bears spotted trotting around the town yesterday “Happens every year,” she said We posted these pictures to our Instagram account @cbcnl pic.twitter.com/i2nAKCz0YK — CBC Newfoundland and Labrador (@CBCNL) April 15, 2019 Newfoundland sightings And in Newfoundland over the weekend, reported 15 April 2019, a bear in good condition was spotted on the northeast coast, in and around Wesleyville: “Polar bear sightings are not uncommon in the spring. The large predators sometimes follow the ice and seals south during the spring thaw, and can make it to shore. The latest sighting was in the New-Wes-Valley area of Bonavista North yesterday evening. Joey-Marie Winter captured pictures of the creature yesterday evening and shared them on Facebook.” The location of Wesleyville is marked on the map below, the Facebook entry follows: Conservation officers are reportedly still monitoring the movements of the bear, as it was still in the area yesterday. Sea ice is scant offshore but there is certainly enough for a bear to hop from floe-to-floe with short swims in between:
— News+
