Polar Bear Defense in Canada, August 17, 1993 FOIA Incident 47

AmmoLand ^ | June 21, 2023 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

On August 17, 1993, Stephen Smith had crawled into his sleeping bag a little before midnight, exhausted from a long day of research hanging in a harness, high above ground, banding sea birds. Only 15 minutes later, a polar bear emerged from the sea and was attempting to enter the tent. From Up Here magazine Jan/Feb 2013:

Things were shaking, rumbling, vibrating – a space encapsulated, tumbling uncontrollably, like a car rolling off a highway. A roar beyond the edges closing in; unrelenting confusion; craziness. And then the instant where my stifled scream broke free and the dream was gone. Sitting bolt upright in my sleeping bag, gun in my hand, my world was defined by a domed envelope of yellow nylon.

“BEAR!” I bellowed, grabbing the zipper on the doorway. The stillness of that moment was broken by the ripping of the zipper teeth. The tent door fell away, revealing a very black and moist nose, straddled by two wide and startled eyes. In the space of three pulls on the trigger, two things became certain: A bear had died in the High Arctic, and I was fully awake, bent forward in my sleeping bag.

The article in Up Here Magazine indicates the incident happened in 1994. Smith’s memory in 2013 was off a bit. The entry in the report received as part of a Freedom of Information Act request states:

 The official report, scan attached, states the date as 17 August 1993.

The location was Coburg Island, near Ellemerre Island, off the southeast coast, in Baffin Bay. From the article:

The day had been busy and exhausting, most of it spent dangling in a harness high above the sea, banding seabirds and their chicks. Stumbling out of the tent in my underwear, smoking gun in hand,

[marktwain]

Eleven years later, Smith's colleagues shot and killed another hungry polar bear who had cornered him. Smith says he believes they saved his life. Stephen Smith goes on to say he has been converted to believing all he needs for protection from polar bears is a stout stick and the right attitude.

[marktwain]

Ping.

[Bob434]

[[believing all he needs for protection from polar bears is a stout stick and the right attitude]]

Smith will be a snack with that attitude- polar bears are known to track and hunt and kill people. Smith sounds like another Timothy Treadwell.

[Red Badger]

[rktman]

Well with the thousands of polar bears drowning each year due to glow-bull warming, this won’t be a problem much longer.. 🙄👍🐻‍❄️