The relationship between the Eskimos and the great white bears is truly profound. It was from the bears that they learned how to live and hunt on the ice, and the bear was the greatest hunting prize they could win. Perhaps this is why they did not begrudge the polar bears too much the occaisional victim they took. It was also customary in the old days to offer the dead and dying to Nanook. They believed that if a bear was eaten by humans, its soul would be reborn as human. Likewise, if a bear ate a human, the human would be reborn as a bear. This belief in the interchange of souls caused the old-time Eskimos to see the bears as equal to men. The Eskimo who still hold to ancient ways are said to have secret knowledge of the great white bear that is theirs alone.
Researchers have occaisionally seen this change of attitude that the bears exhibit when they get really hungry. Some Canadian researchers built an observing tower near the shores of Hudson Bay one summer. After the bears got over their initial curiousity, they quite ignored the tower and its inhabitants. They frolicked and played, made friends, or idly explored and napped, in a typical mellow, friendly, good-natured polar bear way. But that year, the summer continued on and on, and the ice was long delayed in coming back. The bears stopped looking sleek and well-fed. They stopped being friendly and sociable. They got SERIOUSLY hungry and became restless and irritable. Normally, bear researchers find it significantly less scary and tense to work with polar bears than grizzlies, but this time was an exception. The bears started gazing hungrily and longingly at the plump, juicy researchers on the tower. They attempted to climb the tower. Two of them, holding the tower on opposite sides, shook the tower hard in the hopes of shaking down a tasty morsel. Once a photographer was hanging down from the upper framework, when a male suddenly jumped on top of an oil drum then jumped straight up in an almost successful attempt to reach the photographer. The researchers spent the rest of the summer being watchful and wary indeed! One moral that can be drawn from this is you should know what the food situation is like for the bears in an area you intend to explore.
Well, like I said, I really don't intend for you to actually attempt to approach real live polar bears, merely show you how it has been done. You should especially not be tempted to even think of approaching captive polar bears. No other bear loves freedom more than the polar bear and no other bear resents captivity more, nor is any other bear more dangerous in captivity. Circus trainers rate the polar bear as more dangerous than a lion or a tiger. In recent years, zoo polar bears have caused more fatalities than the wild bears. Take warning! Unlike grizzlies which can become as tame as dogs, polar bears in captivity are more dangerous than polar bears in the wild, and they are already plenty dangerous. Don't blame the great white bear though. It is not his fault that he is the greatest carnivore which walks the land. Well-fed and free, he is the the jolliest, genialist, friendliest, most affectionate and playful bear imaginable. The bright side of his spirit is wonderful to behold. But he is also the undisputed King of the Great White North, and knows it. Even the great grizzlies avoid areas where the polar bears roam. I hope you someday get the chance to go to Churchill and ride the tundra buggies out to see him for yourself. I know I would jump at the chance!
