Polar bear problems are increasing. Not only are polar bear populations rapidly declining, but due to changes to their habitat, they are hungrier…and more likely to wander into human-populated areas in search of food.
Polar bear conservationists face the unique challenge of protecting and supporting this endangered bear population while also keeping themselves and the humans who live near polar bear populations safe from dangerous, potentially lethal up-close polar bear encounters.
The last thing anyone wants is for someone to be hurt by a desperate, hungry polar bear or for an endangered polar bear to be unnecessarily shot by a scared individual who was just trying to take their dog for a walk.
Spotter Global’s AI-enabled radars AKA “Bear-Dar” has been used for years to protect citizens of the “Polar Bear Capital of the World”, Churchill, Manitoba from polar bear encounters and attacks. The strategically-positioned radars create a reliable, all-weather invisible virtual perimeter fence around the town to detect any polar bears wandering where they should not be.
The radars detect objects like people or animals moving towards the town. The system’s AI immediately analyzes the radar data to identify objects as either polar bears or people. If it is a bear, the system automatically sends out text alerts to people in the town notifying them there is a potential danger.
See “Bear-Dar” spotlighted by Winnipeg CCTV News in partnership with Polar Bears International: https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/ai-meets-polar-bears-new-technology-helping-track-bears-in-northern-manitoba-1.7101086
How Dangerous Are Polar Bears to Humans?
Polar bears are the largest carnivorous land mammals on earth. They are strong, fast, smart apex predators that survive only through their hunting prowess.
They prefer to hunt seals as the high fat content of seals help them put on the weight they need for the summer fasting season. And when polar bears are well fed on their diet of choice they have little reason or desire to attack humans, unless they feel threatened. Polar bears have even been known to wander into human populated areas to play gently and harmlessly with chained up dogs.
However, if it’s been a bad year for ice coverage (as is increasingly common in recent years), curious and hungry polar bears may grow desperate enough to try their luck on different types of prey such as beluga whales, narwhals, walruses, and even humans. If a polar bear charges a human, the human’s best hope for survival is to either scare it off with lots of loud noise or shoot it before it can get too close. Once the bear gets in close, chances of survival are significantly diminished.
Polar bear attacks are not common, however there have been 73 documented attacks since 1870 and only 20 human deaths. For comparison, that is a tiny fraction compared to the annual shark attack rate which is about 60 per year with 5-6 deaths per year.
Still, each polar bear attack that does occur can be devastating, especially if death is the result. The memory of a polar bear attack, especially a fatal one, stays with a community for years.
Churchill, Manitoba proudly has the title of “Polar Bear Capital of the World”. Residents there hope to live in harmony with their polar bear neighbors. They support polar bear conservation and thrive somewhat off of the business of safely showing off wild polar bears to tourists, taking visitors out in vehicles carefully prepared to facilitate safe proximity to the bears.
The last thing the community wants is for the harmony between polar bear and man to be disrupted.
How Do Spotter Global Radars Protect Against Polar Bear Attacks?
While conservationists are working on ways to help the polar bears get the sea ice and seal-hunting opportunities they need, in the meantime, it’s vital to keep distance between potentially hungry polar bears and the residents of towns near the Hudson Bay.
Spotter Global’s radar systems allow that distance to be maintained. A single Spotter radar set up in the town can cover over 250 acres of area, detecting moving targets at over 1500 meters away even through the dark, through rain, snow or fog.
Thanks to the advanced AI in Spotter Global’s NIO command and control system, the radar can quickly classify targets upon detection. The system is set up to ignore nuisance alarms, such as snowmobiles, skiers, humans, and other non-threats while instantly recognizing polar bears. Once the system recognizes a polar bear, it can initiate alarm protocols whenever bears come too close to the town or cross into other restricted areas.
As soon as a possible threat (in this case an AI-recognized polar bear) is detected, the nearest security cameras are cued to the bear’s location. The radar continues to track the polar bear as long as it is within the radar’s detection range and if it gets too close to the town, an instant text-alert is sent out to the community, alerting them of the bear’s proximity and their need to take precautionary measures (conservationists have made sure the community is well-educated on how to practice bear safety). Alternatively, the bear’s proximity may trigger auditory alarms, instant notifications to law enforcement or conservationist teams, etc.
The system works remarkably well, as attested to by Raymond Friesen, a research support specialist with Polar Bears International. In the aforementioned Winnipeg CCTV News article he recalled, “I had the computer open, and we could see a bear and two cubs coming from a distance in the middle of the night. You couldn't see it with your bare eyes, but all of a sudden, this alert came on the screen, I pointed a camera at it, (and with) the night vision, you could see a mom and two cubs way out there and it tracked them all the way in, right to the lodge."
What’s Next for Bear-Dar?
It seems that polar bear populations are shifting. As the Hudson Bay becomes a less-reliable location for long-lasting sea ice and the seal hunting opportunities, some polar bears have relocated and been increasingly spotted in Greenland, even wandering into human-populated towns.
Alequa Hammond, one of Greenland’s former Prime Ministers said in July of 2024, “There are bears everywhere in West Greenland this year. Quite a few have been way too close to towns in South Greenland this summer…Several polar bears have been shot in Qaqortoq, as the bears were literally in town.”
As the need for bear safety expands to other Arctic regions, Spotter Global bear-dar could soon be headed to new locations. Thanks to Polar Bear International, the system’s AI has already been trained on how to recognize polar bears from other types of targets which means new towns could soon easily enjoy the same caliber of virtual perimeter protection as Churchill, Manitoba.
Conclusion
Polar bear conservation is no easy task, especially when the variable of human safety gets involved. As Polar Bears International has put it on their website:
“If we're calling for the conservation of this large mammal that can potentially kill people, we had better be active in trying to make sure people have the tools they need to stay safe. And, on the flip side, taking measures to keep people safe helps to keep polar bears safe, too.”
Here at Spotter Global, we’re honored to be the perimeter security solution of choice for Polar Bears International and we hope to continue and expand our efforts to Prevent Harm between man and bear.