Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Tuktoyaktuk (Oct 21/02) - A group of friends driving around town were surprised to see a polar bear early Oct. 12.

Richard Cockney, 20, was driving down the main street with four friends around 6 a.m. when he saw the bear. It was about 90 metres away.

Polar bears have been spotted before in Tuktoyaktuk, in 1987 and 1994. The animals were destroyed. - photo courtesy of RWED

Although it was still dark out, the bear was illuminated by street lights.

"I thought it was a dog but I noticed it was way too big to be a dog," Cockney says. "It must have been about seven- to 10-foot."

When the bear saw the truck approaching, it started heading out of town. Cockney and his friends turned their truck around to pick up pedestrians off the road.

"We picked up two girls right away, and then eight or nine other people," Cockney says. One of the pedestrians phoned the police who in turn alerted RWED officer Paul Voudrach.

By the time Voudrach arrived, just before 7 a.m., the bear had travelled north out of the community.

Voudrach says he first had to borrow a gun to do his patrol. Fortunately, the RCMP had one spare.

"They laughed at me and said I was probably the only wildlife officer in the region who doesn't have a rifle!"

His own gun was shipped out for repairs three months ago, and hadn't come back yet.

He spent the day patrolling the streets, watching for the bear with binoculars. From tracks in the snow, Voudrach says it appears the bear may have came from the south end of town near Reindeer Point subdivision, and headed to the north end of town where it was spotted.

"We just made sure we didn't see it come back," Voudrach says. "It's not a comfortable feeling to have animals that size in the community."

Polar bears have made an appearance in Tuktoyaktuk before -- most recently in 1994 and 1987. In both cases, the bears were destroyed.

"They very seldom come into the community like this, but these sightings are getting closer together," Voudrach says. "Some say it's global warming, but nobody really knows. Their domain is the ocean here and we're just right on the edge of the waters."