Bear eating a seal last month near beechey island, nunavut, cananda. I was prob 500’ away bobbing in a moving zodiac.
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Is 500m a safe distance? Or perhaps you meant 500 feet? Eek!
@PixPixPix said he was “bobbing in a moving zodiac”, I take that to mean he was in a boat, i.e. there was water between him and the bear. In which case, 500 ft seems OK.
Yes, in a small boat (zodiac) ~500 ft away. It doesn’t show as I cropped the image, but he is on a small iceberg which itself was floating along.
Edit: the guide was carrying a rifle. When I asked why the rifle as we were going to stay in the zodiac and not be on land anywhere, she said walruses can get aggressive and chomp on a boat. Eek!
So the guide shoots first and asks questions later?
edit: editor removed bracketed text for some reason.
Ha, not sure of the walrus protocol. The polar bear protocol is to fire a flare (from a flare pistol) when the bear is headed in the direction of ppl and within (I forget) feet. The rifle can be fired over the bear’s head after it has not responded to the flare and is moving towards & within (I forget) feet of people. The bear can be shot, as in to kill, when it is moving towards & within 100 feet of people.
There is an organization that sets the rules for this stuff that the expedition operators participate in and are supposed to comply with.
All the guides I spoke with had never shot in an attempt to kill a bear (didn’t ask about walruses). A few had gotten to the point of firing over the head of a bear. Def not the wild west (north) as there are lots of rules to follow and reporting on actions taken.