Abstract 272 – Novel design for a live-capture polar bear trap.

Lyle Walton, Ashley Elliott, Jeremy Inglis, Alysa G. McCall, Joseph M. Northrup,
Gordon B. Stenhouse, Gregory W. Thiemann, Geoff York

As the climate continues to warm, polar bears in Hudson Bay are being forced to spend more
time on land, with limited food availability. This has led to continuing declines in polar bear
body condition, survival, and potential population declines. The increased time on shore will
lead to more polar bear interactions with people. Some of the northern Indigenous
communities along the Ontario coast of Hudson Bay and James Bay have expressed concern
about increasing interactions between bears and people. Further, in some cases they have
reached out to Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) for assistance in
developing and providing non-lethal tools to deal with increasing conflict with polar bears. The
MNRF partnered with Polar Bears International (PBI), York University and three Ontario
communities since 2022 to provide support.
One of the tools we provided was the design and fabrication of four live-capture traps for the
three communities. Design objectives for the trap were: 1) to be lightweight and highly mobile
to facilitate relocating captured bears by helicopter; 2) to minimize injuries to bears while held
within the trap; 3) to provide multiple options for safely releasing bears from the trap without
the need for bear immobilization; 4) to provide mechanical assistance to move an immobilized
bear into the trap for relocation; and 5) to require minimum maintenance (e.g. all materials
highly resistant to corrosion in a marine environment). The new traps offer these communities
a tailored alternative to lethal control.
We based the design of the traps on the aluminum grizzly bear trap commonly used in western
North America, increasing the size of the trap to accommodate use on adult male polar bears
and then modifying to meet the five objectives. The last two traps are being delivered via
winter road during March 2024. The traps have not yet been tested on bears. Engineered
drawings will be available and we continue to seek input.