New Tech Aims to Keep Polar Bears and People Apart

Ottawa, 17 Jul (ONA) --- At the end of the Canadian Arctic summer, polar bears head inland to wait for the ice to form.

And while thousands of tourists flock to catch a glimpse of these magnificent predators, researchers are developing novel ways to keep people and bears safely separated.

New tracking devices that stick in polar bears’ fur could be the key to protecting both people and bears - by closely monitoring the animals' locations, BBC news reported.

Polar bears now spend more of the year on land, as Arctic sea ice melts, so conservationists are increasingly concerned about bears and people coming into contact.

The tracking tags, which have been tested on bears in Canadian Arctic, could help prevent those encounters, by “keeping a remote eye” on the bears.

In communities in the southern Canadian Arctic, where the scientists tested these tags, polar bears that wander too close to a community are sometimes caught, transported and released in carefully selected sites away from towns and villages.

The tags could fill important gaps in knowledge about the bears. And as the Arctic climate warms up rapidly, the need to monitor bears becomes increasingly urgent.

Polar bears are difficult to tag. Male bears’ heads are smaller than their necks, so tracking collars can just slip off.

Another option is ear tags - attached by piercing the bear’s ear. They require an animal to be recaptured in order to remove the tag and, in rare cases, can injure the ear.

The three new tags the researchers tested were designed by the company 3M in collaboration with the charity Polar Bears International. They all attach to the bears’ coarse fur.

To fit the tags, scientists had to locate and sedate bears. They then assessed the quality of the data they received from each device and noted when the tags fell off.

Climate change is bringing bears and humans into closer proximity, making places where polar bears and people coexist, riskier for both.

One US Geological Survey study in 2022 that that used data from satellite tracking collars on more than 400 polar bears in Alaska, shows the time they spend onshore has grown significantly in recent decades.

--- Ends/Khalid