In August 2000 Fred Donaldson, Suellen Inwood and Daniel Caron traveled with friends to the shores of Hudson Bay in Churchill, Manitoba to play with Beluga whales and learn about accounts of polar bears playing with sled dogs tethered on the rocky shores of the bay.  Every summer the bears swim ashore from melting ice flows and begin fasting until the bay again freezes, allowing them to return to the ice to hunt seals. 

We interviewed Churchill resident, Betty Mitchell, at her Arctic Trading Post worksite, about her experiences watching polar bears playing with sled dogs.  Below is a segment from the interview.  In the interview Betty recounts her experience observing a large polar bear playing with local sled dogs.  Although we did not have the privilege to observe this gentle interaction during our visit to Churchill, there are several documented accounts of similar behaviors such as the photograph below taken by award-winning nature photographer Mark J. Thomas.  (We appreciate Mark's permission to use his photograph.  More of Mark's incredible photographs can be seen at www.blueiceberg.com).

Fred:  Betty, I wanted to ask you about your experiences here with the interactions of sled dogs, what I call "sled dogs" and polar bears.

Betty:  Well, last year I was really lucky.  I got to see it.  It was a great, big bear.  He was on the ice and he sort of came around through a bunch of other dogs. And he came right up to this one dog and they were playing around and playing around with the dogs looking at him.  And he sort of batted him a couple of times but not hard.  Then the dog got a little aggressive.  If he had kept it up then the bear would have got aggressive.  But Brian made sure he separated them. All was fine. 

Fred:  Was the dog tied up?

Betty:  Yes.

Fred:  And the bear went to one specific dog?

Betty:  Yes.  He went right through two or three other ones because Brian has dogs all around. This bear went up to this one dog.  It was really neat to see.

Fred:  How long did it last, would you guess? 

Betty:  I’d say a good ten minutes.

Fred:  And Brian did something and it scared the bear away? 

Betty:  He used a cracker shell just to separate them because he said that the dog was starting to get too aggressive. 

Fred:  And the bear then went off?

Betty:  Yes.  He just sort of looked at the dog and then wandered off.  He was a huge bear too!