Quebec police are warning residents to observe a polar bear in the Madeleine Center area of Quebec, on the northern coast of the Gaspe Peninsula.
The mayor of Sainte-Madeleine-de-la-Rivière-Madeleine said he had been alerted to the situation on Saturday morning after a friend sent him photos of the bear and one of its prints.
“It was a fun day. I was wondering how a polar bear could get there, it’s a little early for an April Fool’s joke, “said Joel Kote, speaking to Radio Canada.
The animal was last seen near the site of the former airport in the area, the Sûreté du Québec (SQ) said.
Sophie Bonneville told Radio Canada that she spotted the bear near her home after her dog Boris warned her. Quebec wildlife workers contacted shortly afterwards.
Photo of the bear’s footprint next to a person’s foot, for scale. (Submitted by Jean Bergeron)
“My partner was shoveling and Boris was running away because he is not standing on our land for anything, not even a crow,” Boneville said. “He looked at the dog, he wasn’t scared.
“After looking at my partner, he turned to return to the forest.”
They have not yet confirmed whether this is in fact a polar bear and are still searching for clues to determine where it went.
“There is a picture where you can clearly see the bear, and it is white. In terms of color, this is the right color,” added Kote. – I’m not an expert.
SQ employees go door-to-door to advise residents in the area to stay inside.
Police are asking anyone who sees the animal not to approach it and call 911 immediately.
Rare, but not impossible to visit, says the biologist
Dominique Berto, a biologist and professor at the Université du Québec à Rimouski, says it’s a polar bear.
The polar bears, found in the spring on the east coast of Labrador, are moving north when the packed ice breaks, Berto said, but noted that sometimes bears can get lost. They are also fantastic swimmers, he said.
“The Inuit consider him a marine mammal,” Berto said. “According to the scientific literature, there is nothing exceptional about a bear crossing 100 or 200 kilometers while swimming.
Earlier this month, polar bears were spotted more than 200 km north, across St. Lawrence Bay, in the area of Bai-Johan-Beitz. A polar bear was recently spotted near the Inu community Unamen Shipu on the lower north coast, which is already south of the animal’s normal habitat.
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