Pictured with the kind assistance of Sophie Boneville, a polar bear roams a field in Madeleine Center, Quebec, on April 30. SOPHIE BONNEVILLE / AFP / Getty Images
A polar bear that dared to enter a residential area on the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec this weekend, triggering a public safety signal, was shot dead, authorities said on Sunday.
Provincial police Sûreté du Québec said they were first called to the town of Madeleine Center on Saturday morning after residents said they saw a polar bear near their homes.
Sophie Bonneville, owner of a local café in the Grand Valley, said her husband took their dog for a morning walk when a polar bear appeared less than 30 meters from their home.
“My dog Boris saw the bear first,” Ms. Boneville said, adding that the dog was so frightened that he tried to flee to their family’s barn.
“The bear did not move for a few seconds, then turned to return to the forest,” she said.
Sylvain Maroa, commander of the southeastern county of the province’s Wildlife Protection Agency, said a search and rescue team, as well as a helicopter and several drones were involved in the search.
Mr Maroa said the bear was finally found at 8:15 a.m. Sunday after a sighting report on Route 132 in Madeleine-Center. About 15 minutes later, the polar bear was dead.
“We are not proud of such things,” Mr Maroa said. He said his team could safely neutralize and transport smaller bears such as black bears, but polar bears are a different story.
“A bear like this can run up to 60, 70 kilometers per hour and they are really aggressive,” he said.
Mr Maroa said polar bears had sometimes been spotted in the coastal areas of Quebec’s lower north coast and in areas such as James Bay, but not on the south bank of the St. Lawrence River.
In this image, courtesy of Sophie Boneville, a polar bear trail is compared to a human foot in Madeleine Center, Quebec, on April 30, 2022. SOPHIE BONNEVILLE / AFP / Getty Images
Polar bears live on Arctic sea ice, choosing to live on land only in summer in Canada, when sea ice melts, said Alice McCall, a scientist at Polar Bears International. But she said polar bear sightings could become more frequent as more Arctic sea ice is lost due to climate change.
“This is, of course, of great concern to Canadians, because we have two-thirds of the world’s polar bears and we have very, very small coastal communities, some of which have never seen polar bears in the past, but now they may see some in the future, “she said.
Polar bears, she said, are mobile animals, which means they will end up in unexpected places. But whether the polar bear spotted in Quebec this weekend “turned around and may have traced its nose in the wrong place, or not, it’s an absolutely unusual place to see a polar bear,” she said.
Safe removal and transportation of polar bears back to their habitat is not an easy task.
A polar bear trap can cost more than $ 10,000, and the cost of deadly and non-lethal deterrents and helicopters to properly monitor bears can accrue quickly. Cities such as Churchill, Man., Which are known in Canada for their polar bear populations, are more likely to have the funding, resources, and trained professionals to safely remove polar bears from public places.
But Ms. McCall said it would not be fair to expect smaller communities to have the equipment or money to safely catch polar bears right now.
“The non-lethal options are great, but in the end, of course, human life comes first,” she said. “One thing that needs to happen in the coming years is greater support for these communities with more opportunities on how to deal with polar bears.
With files from The Canadian Press
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