Canadian Environment minister Jim Prentice has called for a January 16^th meeting for a discussion on the future of the Arctic Polar bear.  Everyone from the Inuit to government officials have been invited to come and “discuss solutions that will help ensure a future for the polar bear.”

Biologist Andrew Derocher, the chair of the polar bear specialist branch of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, does not have high hopes for the polar bears’ survival, calling their outlook “bleak”.

In light of the recent concern for the survival of the polar bears, hunters in the Arviat area were asked to refrain from hunting the bears in an effort to help conserve their numbers in what is known to be a dwindling population.   But with the warming of the Arctic and the melting of the arctic shelf, polar bears are becoming more and more creative in finding food.  This creativity has lead to increased sightings and close encounters with the predators in Arviat.

Arviat, a Nunavut community on the west coast of Hudson Bay has seen an increase of polar bears activity in and around the town.  Teenaged girls walking home from school were surprised when a polar bear bolted past them and a group of people marveled from the safety of their homes as a bear lunched on a caribou behind a truck. The fear is that one of these times someone is going to get hurt, maybe even killed.

And it’s not just in Arviat that these close encounters are happening.  In Barrow, Alaska, a man was chased around his car as he tried to get into the vehicle.  He survived by seeking refuge in another unlocked truck, but sustained over 100 scratches on his head and body.

Wildlife groups warn that these sightings in Arctic towns and villages will most likely continue as the polar bears attempt to find new places and ways to get food.