People in Taloyoak, Nunavut, are baffled that young polar bears are roaming into the community without their mothers.
Since late September, six young bears have been shot after coming into town and an additional six young bears were shot near the community.
“In some cases, they were peeking into bedroom windows,” says Bob Lyall, who works with the Taloyoak Hunters and Trappers Organization.
The smallest bear was the size of a large dog; the largest was about two metres long. Lyall says all seemed to be around two years old.
All the bears were hungry and looking for food.
“We have had occurrences of polar bears breaking into shacks and stealing food and hides. As well as young polar bears poking into windows of residences,” Lyall says, adding the bears are mostly attempting to sneak inside little shacks beside people’s homes that are used for storing meat.
People in Taloyoak, which lies on the Boothia peninsula in central Nunavut, are used to polar bears.
The hamlet, which is home to about 900 people, has a quota to hunt 25 bears this year.
‘We really don’t know what’s going on’
Lyall says one theory is that their mothers were killed by large male bears, but so far there’s no evidence of that.
“In my opinion it doesn’t seem right because if the mothers are being killed and the cubs being orphaned, it doesn’t make sense. We really don’t know what’s going on.”
Another theory is that the bears are coming from the McClintock Channel, to the west of Taloyoak, where a ban on polar bear hunting has been in place for well over a decade.
“There seems to be a growing population of bears in our immediate area, but nobody knows.”
Lyall says he’s heard of something similar happening in other communities.
“There is an unusual amount of small bears that are without their mothers where they generally would be,” he says.
Lyall says the bears had to be shot because they were a danger to the community — especially kids walking to school.
He plans to ask elders in Taloyoak if they’ve ever seen something like this before.
