The Buzz - March 16, 2015
This week we hear from Carol Davies-Pedersen about her trip last fall to Churchill, MB to experience a day with Polar Bears.
The Buzz – March 16, 2015
By Ray Hook
1. President David called the meeting to order at 11:45 am.
2. Our only guest today was Carol Davies-Pederson – our guest speaker and member of Camrose Daybreak.
3. Health of the Club – Paul was away today but we are all healthy!
4. Announcements:
a. President Dave advised the meeting that we were in receipt of a Thank You letter from the Hospice Society, and an ask for additional support, should we choose. The request will go to the Executive tomorrow at the monthly meeting.
b. Maciel reported another good week, with visits to the Edmonton Water Park, a hockey tournament with Dawn (son Gavin voted game MVP!), and watched the Crashed Ice races at the Shaw Centre. Even school was good! Maciel did admit that, unlike life in Brazil, he has never been so “un-tanned” in his life – i.e. white all over! Despite this fact, it was a great week and he thanked all his hosts for their efforts.
c. Dan spoke to the next Rotary Celebration Gala meeting on Thursday, and a reminder to keep up efforts on the Silent Auction items.
d. Dawn briefly spoke to a major conclusion from our recent survey on meetings and lunch locales. She would prefer to hold off on a list of recommendations until Tyler can meet with her and finish off their analysis of the findings. The one clearly supported idea was to move the location of our lunch meetings to the Best Western, starting in April. Dawn will arrange for hotel staff to move our storage cupboards in early April. Following a question from the floor on protocol, it was decided that a vote on the matter was required. Moved by David T., seconded by Darcy P. that the Camrose Rotary Club relocate their Monday lunch meetings to the Best Western Plus Camrose Resort Casino effective for the first meeting on April 13th. CARRIED (25 Ayes, 1 Nay). President Dave thanked Dawn and Tyler for their diligent work on this matter and is looking forward to their full report.
e. Morris H advised the meeting that the next Casino will be in the April-May time period of 2018.
5. Judge/Greeter Carman requested Happy Bucks – Keith, Don R, Dawn, Ray and Dave S responded. Fines were issued today – Dawn, Ron G, Roy W and Dan all fell victim to the “judge”!
6. Guest Speaker Carol Davies-Pederson was introduced by President Dave, and she was invited to share her experiences from her recent Polar Bear Sighting excursion to Churchill MB back in November.
Chillin’ with the Polar Bears in Churchill while they wait for the Bay to freeze
“Polar Bear Safari Cost & Itinerary - $1800.with everything, booked through AMA. That’s $100 per polar bear spotted, or $300 per hour riding a Tundra Buggy. Frontiers North Adventures and Classic Canadian Tours both involved as organizers. 120 people filled an Air North 737 from the industrial area of the airport at 6AM and arrived home at 8PM. We were served a hot breakfast and supper on the plane and soup & sandwich lunch on the tundra buggy. There were biologists on the plane and on the tundra buggies. Even the bus drivers that took us from airport to the tundra buggies provided nonstop commentary about Churchill and the area’s history. Forty people each in 3 tundra buggies, and we rode around about 6 hours. At the end of the afternoon we had 45 minutes to hit the gift shops, which stay open for the tourists.
About Churchill & Area – 850 permanent residents. It peaked at 5,000 in the 1950’s. During the Cold War are the military built the DEW line, and the roads where the tundra buggies go. They tested missiles and trained there because the terrain was like Siberia. The military left in the mid-1960s.
About 900 bears congregate around Churchill in the fall waiting for the ice to form. The town stores its garbage in a large building that resembles an arena. There is a similar-sized “bear jail” that accommodates 50 bad bears. In the late PM when we were let loose in town to shop, the bus driver said if we hear firecrackers, to go indoors and stay put while a bear is driven out of town. Notice the bear rifle mounted over the windshield of our bus.
There is rail but no road access to Churchill. Their goods come by rail and air. The port of Churchill is open to shipping from August 1st to November 1st. Canola and wheat are shipped to Europe and Africa from here. They get about 8 to 15 ships a year.
Tundra Buggies - There are more tundra buggy seats than hotel beds in town. The tundra buggies are built in Churchill – starting from an airport fire truck chassis. They have typical 2-person school bus seats along both sides, a furnace, a bathroom, and an open deck at the back. We had to remain seated while in motion. There were pot holes 18x12x3 ft. deep. Our driver who looked after polar bears at Winnipeg Zoo until Skippy (the male), and Debby (the female) died, when he retired and the zoo rebuilt the polar bear exhibit and got new bears. The zoo keepers donated funds to cremate Skippy and Debby. They had a ceremony at Gordon Point on the edge of the Bay to spread the bears’ ashes, and those of one of their departed zoo keepers too. This fellow returns every fall to drive tundra buggies. There were other companies too. We saw two tundra buggy hotels where you can stay for several days of polar bear sighting via tundra buggy. When we saw bears, the driver would stop, and people rushed to the deck. Also the top few inches of the windows inside opened up if they weren’t frozen. My best advice is sit in the back so you can get to the deck first. Short, late people don’t get the best pictures.
Other Wildlife – Snowy Owls, Ptarmigan, Gyrfalcon, and Red, Silver, and Cross Arctic Foxes supposedly live here too, but we saw none.
Vegetation – We could see the edge of the tree line in the distance in places. Taiga was the border between forest and tundra - 5-foot evergreens that were 200 years old, bare on the windward side and only branched on all sides below the snow line and scrubby willow bushes 2-3 ft. tall. Tundra was just willow bushes and lower vegetation we could not see as there was already 1-2 feet of snow on the ground.
Hudson Bay – could be seen on the skyline in several places. Choppy slushy ice, a few open leads. You could see the snow squalls blowing in on us from the Bay. An abandoned ship sits in the bay. It ran aground and the insurance wouldn’t pay so it was just left.
Size – Males 8-10 ft. tall and 550-1700 lbs. Females 6-8 ft. tall and 200-700 lbs.
Feeding and Fasting – Polar bears eat mainly ringed seals on sea ice from November until Summer, but will also eat beached whales, walrus, etc.. Seals maintain 10-15 aglus (breathing holes) with the claws on their foreflippers – maintain them all winter even when the ice gets 6 feet thick. Seals surface every 5 -15 minutes. Polar bears can smell the seals miles away and wait at the aglu for from hours to days. Bears also predate pups from seals’ snow dens on the ice in the spring. When hunting is good the bears eat only the seal blubber – lots of Omega-3 fatty acids there. When the ice melts in June-July polar bears stay on land and live off their fat reserves until ice re-forms in November. On land they will eat bird eggs, geese, and a caribou but these do not provide enough nutrients to replace seals.
Lifespan- In the wild polar bears live an average of 15-18 years although biologists have tagged a few bears in their early 30’s. Debby, a zoo bear from Winnipeg, lived to 42.
Hibernation – polar bears do not hibernate like their brown and grizzly relatives. Males and non-pregnant females are active all year.
Reproduction – Females give birth to their first litter between 4 and 8 years old. They produce only 5 litters in their lifetime, one of the slowest reproduction rates of any mammal. Mating occurs on the ice in April-May. Twins are most common though 1 to 4 eggs can be fertilized. After one division the fertilized ova do not implant until fall – called “delayed implantation”. Mama eats well until she comes ashore in the summer. If she feels good, in October-November she digs a maternity den in a snow drift on a hilly slope near the shore or in a drift on the sea ice. Cubs are born in January-February. They are about a foot long, weigh about a pound, are blind, toothless, and covered in short, soft fur. Mama does not eat, drink, or excrete during her time in the den (Hallowe’en through Easter). The cubs grow fast thanks to Mama’s rich milk which is 32% fat (like whipping cream). The family emerges from the den in March-April. Hudson Bay cubs sometimes leave Mom in their second autumn, or at 2.5 years in other bear populations. “
Following a short Q & A session, President Dave thanked Carol for her very interesting and informative presentation.
8. Draws – the second 50/50 draw under the new format was made and Lou “won” the opportunity to find the Ace of Spades for a $37 pot…. Better luck next week!
9. After Lou led the Club in the 4 Way Test, President Dave adjourned the meeting at 1:00 p.m.
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Next Meeting: Monday March 23 at 1145 am upstairs in the Rotary Room of the Camrose Recreation Centre.
Guest Speaker: 644 Rotary Cougars Air Cadet Squadron update
Judges/Greeters: Jerome Stetar and Don Rebus