The province of Manitoba in Canada is known among other things "thanks" to the white polar bears that surround them to the north, in the Hudson Bay area. The port city of Churchill, north of Winnipeg, which is the capital of the province, is considered the "bear capital" and the only place in the world in or near the Arctic Circle, where you can experience "tourism bears"
Yoram Mizrachi
The province of Manitoba in Canada is known among other things "thanks" to the white polar bears that surround them in the north, in the Hudson Bay area. The port city of Churchill, north of Winnipeg, which is the capital of the province, is considered the "bear capital" and the only place in the world in the Arctic Circle or near it, where you can experience "tourism Bears".
The season of the bears that come to the vicinity of the city and sometimes... into it, is related to the process of freezing the water of the bay, which allows the polar bears to move from place to place in an endless search for food, especially high protein. At the top of the list of "favorites for the jaw and digestion" are the seals.
The attraction to the proximity of settlements, such as Churchill, stems from cumulative experience, which passes from one generation of bears to another of....garbage piles containing leftover food and the fact that the tourism promoters make sure to provide food leftovers at the feeding points, mainly game meat, waste from slaughterhouses, etc. The polar bears do not hibernate and unlike their relatives, the black bear, the grizzly and the Kodiak - the
Food in the spring and summer and then "retiring to the bedroom" the polar bears usually accumulate food in the winter.
The official symbol of the province of Manitoba is the buffalo (bison), but the polar bear is the "star" almost every time the uniqueness of the province is mentioned, which belongs to the northern prairies of Saskatchewan and Manitoba and to some extent Alberta. Among other things, Winnipeg became famous thanks to "Pooh-the-Pooh" in the English original "Winnie the Pooh" when the word "Winnie" comes in honor of the origin of the black Winnie the Pooh, undoubtedly "the most famous bear in history".
In the Winnipeg Zoo, for example, there is a statue of Winnie and his benefactor, the Canadian officer in the First World War, when Winnie was a puppy - brought to Europe "as a single mascot" until he was "discovered" in the London Zoo. Once a year, an event is held in the city called "Winnie the Pooh Festival" with the participation of thousands of children and their parents. The event is held in a large city park. There are those who dress up as bears. Some hold "reading groups" in the immortal book and from time to time there are stage performances, shows dealing with Winnie and more.
The municipality of Winnipeg decided to add to the "Winnie Syndrome" and chose to use the symbol of the white bear, which is the largest of the carnivorous mammals, to decorate the city in a special operation. Dozens of concrete bears were placed in a large military garage, which was vacated after a mechanized battalion stationed in the city, was moved to a settlement after local artists were invited to the garage to paint and decorate Concrete blocks and the final product were placed along Broadway Boulevard, the government-administrative area of the city, a central route that stretches between the large railway station and the provincial parliament building (a reminder of Winnipeg's great days as an important and main railway center in the center of the continent, the city of the largest grain exchange in the world and at the same time larger than Chicago
and Minneapolis - anyone who remembers the old "Monopoly" game knows Winnipeg as one of the stations that must be passed in the Canadian Federation. Each parliamentary district elects a district government).
The colorful concrete bears of Broadway Boulevard attract a large crowd, from near and far, when the intention is to "borrow" them to other communities in North America and even on other continents. The City of Toronto, for example, decorated the city several years ago with large reindeer (moose deer) that were painted and displayed over a period of time Long. More municipalities are now planning to run outdoor decoration operations, of a similar nature, starting with concrete whales and ending with milk cows, sheep and beef cattle...
