(C) Gary Coulbourne [ Taken Near: 11-15-1997 ]

This female polar bear is inadvertantly teaching her cubs (visible behind her, though the gap in her hind legs) bad habits. She is teaching them to feed from human garbage, likely left by accident in the back of the truck. Eventually, she managed to haul a huge, black garbage bag from it and break it open. The bag burst, disgorging garbage and waste... the cubs played with it, and ate what they could. A convienient food source, it is likely part of a cycle where she and her cubs learn to live from human garbage and ultimately be destroyed. The town of Churchill is taking steps to keep these things from happening. In the past, their dump was well known as a massive feeding ground for bears. New management methods have radically changed how the bears and humans interact in this regard, keeping the bears away from the dump, and away from human food sources.