The Polar Bears’ Prison Exists: In Canada, a Concrete Hangar Determines Coexistence between Humans and Arctic Predators
Churchill earned the title of because every year hundreds of specimens cross its streets in search of passage to the sea ice. That proximity is fascinating and dangerous at the same time. To face it, residents built a facility that looks like a prison, but is actually a designed to ensure the survival of the Arctic giants.
A community on constant alert
When summer melts the ice, . Starting in October, they begin to roam the town, which requires activating a permanent surveillance system. There is even a with a direct line so that any neighbor can report a sighting. If the situation is critical, the animal’s fate is the holding center.
How the polar bear jail works
The building, known as , has 28 concrete and steel cells. The bears arrive sedated or trapped in large traps, although rangers try to deter them with flares and noises before resorting to confinement. Once inside, the animals have water but no food, so they do not associate humans with food. P
The delicate act of release
When the time comes to release them, . What seems like a display of strength is, in reality, a scene of fragility: huge predators suspended in the air like hanging shadows. That release has become a community ritual, a symbol of
A jail that preserves freedom
If the bears learn to seek food in the town, they will lose their hunting instinct and become dependent, condemning their future. In Churchill, they understand that keeping them at bay is also protecting them. The “polar bear jail” is, essentially, a collective effort for the last white giants of the Arctic to continue existing away from the streets and close to the ice that belongs to them.
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