“It's Just a Matter of Time:” Lessons from Agency and Community Responses to Polar Bear-inflicted Human Injury
Bear-inflicted human injuries or deaths are often widely publicised, controversial, and evoke substantial social responses that articulate public expectations about bear management. In this paper, we examine how local people and management agencies (i.e. Manitoba Conservation, Parks Canada, and the...
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Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2018
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.4103/cs.cs_16_94 https://doaj.org/article/59c293d1973c4b8f8bc650c790b4a39e |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:59c293d1973c4b8f8bc650c790b4a39e 2023-05-15T15:55:01+02:00 “It's Just a Matter of Time:” Lessons from Agency and Community Responses to Polar Bear-inflicted Human Injury Aimee L Schmidt Douglas A Clark 2018-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.4103/cs.cs_16_94 https://doaj.org/article/59c293d1973c4b8f8bc650c790b4a39e EN eng Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications http://www.conservationandsociety.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4923;year=2018;volume=16;issue=1;spage=64;epage=75;aulast=Schmidt https://doaj.org/toc/0972-4923 0972-4923 doi:10.4103/cs.cs_16_94 https://doaj.org/article/59c293d1973c4b8f8bc650c790b4a39e Conservation & Society, Vol 16, Iss 1, Pp 64-75 (2018) polar bear-human conflicts management responses community responses Churchill Manitoba Canada Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.4103/cs.cs_16_94 2022-12-31T14:09:59Z Bear-inflicted human injuries or deaths are often widely publicised, controversial, and evoke substantial social responses that articulate public expectations about bear management. In this paper, we examine how local people and management agencies (i.e. Manitoba Conservation, Parks Canada, and the Town of Churchill) responded to a polar bear-inflicted human injury in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. On November 1st, 2013, two people in Churchill were badly mauled by a polar bear. The incident shocked the community, highlighted problems such as a lack of bear safety education, and led to reviews of institutional policies for preventing polar bear-human conflicts. We used qualitative analysis methods to describe what is said (about polar bears, about people, and about management) and what is done (changes in behaviours and changes in policies/practices) when someone is attacked by a polar bear in Churchill. Results show that polar bear management agencies in Churchill respond remarkably well to errors in procedure, but are often unable to address the many underlying systematic drivers of polar bear-human conflict. Hence, managerial reactions to bear-human conflicts are successful at addressing the proximate cause of the problem, but offer few long-term solutions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Churchill Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Canada Conservation and Society 16 1 64 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
polar bear-human conflicts management responses community responses Churchill Manitoba Canada Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
polar bear-human conflicts management responses community responses Churchill Manitoba Canada Ecology QH540-549.5 Aimee L Schmidt Douglas A Clark “It's Just a Matter of Time:” Lessons from Agency and Community Responses to Polar Bear-inflicted Human Injury |
topic_facet |
polar bear-human conflicts management responses community responses Churchill Manitoba Canada Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Bear-inflicted human injuries or deaths are often widely publicised, controversial, and evoke substantial social responses that articulate public expectations about bear management. In this paper, we examine how local people and management agencies (i.e. Manitoba Conservation, Parks Canada, and the Town of Churchill) responded to a polar bear-inflicted human injury in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. On November 1st, 2013, two people in Churchill were badly mauled by a polar bear. The incident shocked the community, highlighted problems such as a lack of bear safety education, and led to reviews of institutional policies for preventing polar bear-human conflicts. We used qualitative analysis methods to describe what is said (about polar bears, about people, and about management) and what is done (changes in behaviours and changes in policies/practices) when someone is attacked by a polar bear in Churchill. Results show that polar bear management agencies in Churchill respond remarkably well to errors in procedure, but are often unable to address the many underlying systematic drivers of polar bear-human conflict. Hence, managerial reactions to bear-human conflicts are successful at addressing the proximate cause of the problem, but offer few long-term solutions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Aimee L Schmidt Douglas A Clark |
author_facet |
Aimee L Schmidt Douglas A Clark |
author_sort |
Aimee L Schmidt |
title |
“It's Just a Matter of Time:” Lessons from Agency and Community Responses to Polar Bear-inflicted Human Injury |
title_short |
“It's Just a Matter of Time:” Lessons from Agency and Community Responses to Polar Bear-inflicted Human Injury |
title_full |
“It's Just a Matter of Time:” Lessons from Agency and Community Responses to Polar Bear-inflicted Human Injury |
title_fullStr |
“It's Just a Matter of Time:” Lessons from Agency and Community Responses to Polar Bear-inflicted Human Injury |
title_full_unstemmed |
“It's Just a Matter of Time:” Lessons from Agency and Community Responses to Polar Bear-inflicted Human Injury |
title_sort |
“it's just a matter of time:” lessons from agency and community responses to polar bear-inflicted human injury |
publisher |
Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.4103/cs.cs_16_94 https://doaj.org/article/59c293d1973c4b8f8bc650c790b4a39e |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
Churchill |
genre_facet |
Churchill |
op_source |
Conservation & Society, Vol 16, Iss 1, Pp 64-75 (2018) |
op_relation |
http://www.conservationandsociety.org/article.asp?issn=0972-4923;year=2018;volume=16;issue=1;spage=64;epage=75;aulast=Schmidt https://doaj.org/toc/0972-4923 0972-4923 doi:10.4103/cs.cs_16_94 https://doaj.org/article/59c293d1973c4b8f8bc650c790b4a39e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.4103/cs.cs_16_94 |
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Conservation and Society |
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16 |
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1 |
container_start_page |
64 |
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