Children run for cover before polar bear shot near Iqaluit
Source: CBC News
Posted: 06/25/08 3:49PM
Filed Under: Canada
A polar bear sent dozens of elementary school students racing for safety before the animal was shot and killed Wednesday morning in a park just outside of Iqaluit.
The bear died only a few hundred metres from the pavilion at Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park, which is about one kilometre from Iqaluit. It is rare for polar bears to be sighted near the city.
At the time, 37 students from Nakasuk School were at the park for a year-end picnic.
"The students were up running on the hill here, and I was at the bottom watching them, and they were on a scavenger hunt," Jason Rochon told CBC News on Wednesday.
"Two men started running down and waving their arms. And they were like, 'Get out of here, get back to the cabin!' So I was kind of wondering why they were upsetting the kids so much. And they were like, 'There's a polar bear! There's a polar bear!'"
The men were student workers with Nunavut Parks. They reported the polar bear on a cellphone. Wildlife officers soon arrived on the scene and shot the bear.
Officials said the polar bear was a male, approximately about 21/2 metres long, and appeared to be looking for food at the park.
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