How to take a polar bear to the vet

When four-year-old Kinuk developed a tremor just before Christmas, staff at his Quebec City Aquarium home had a big problem on their hands — how to get the 450-kilo polar bear (and his 450-kilo cage) onto a truck to transport him 200 km to a veterinary facility in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que. The solution? A very large forklift.

The next problem was sedating the big bear just enough to give the veterinary team time to run a battery of tests and perform exploratory surgery. “They are like the most dangerous bears on Earth,” explained Dr. Noémie Summa, zoological medicine specialist and clinical instructor at the Université de Montréal facility in an interview with CBC News. “They look like a giant soft fur ball … [but] they are not soft at all.”

Inuit see the value of Western science when it is done in collaboration with communities. How can we shift current practices to a more respectful model?

The history of Qallunaat (non-Inuit peoples) on Inuit Nunangat, or Inuit homelands, is a tale that leans towards extractive at best and acutely violent at worst. As with most interactions between Indigenous Peoples in what is now called Canada and eager explorers, settlers, and colonists, the relationship between Inuit and Qallunaat began from a place of altruism. Europeans turned up in the North woefully unprepared, lacking thousands of years of carefully honed skills and knowledge about how to not only survive, but thrive in the Arctic. Inuit are exemplary engineers, naturalists, scientists, nutritionists, hunters, knowledge mobilizers, artists, and healers. Unlike Qallunaat who colonized Canada, they did not need to “master” their territories; instead of shaping the environment to suit them, they lived in harmony with the tundra and the sea with the utmost respect and a bottomless depth of understanding of non-human processes and kin. Inuit have tread so softly that Qallunaat still refer to vast swaths of northern land as “pristine” and “untouched” – untouched, perhaps, by Qallunaat, but Inuit have been lovingly and tenderly caring for the land and the sea that has in turn cared for them for millennia.

Join podcast host David McGuffin in the first of three episodes exploring Iqaluktuuttiaq (Cambridge Bay), Nunavut and the new Canadian High Arctic Research Station. In this episode: Arctic research, the blending of traditional Inuit knowledge with Western science, and more.

We’re thrilled to bring you the first of three episodes from our December 2022 visit to Iqaluktuuttiaq (Cambridge Bay), Nunavut, where we visited with the community and spent time at the new Canadian High Arctic Research Station. CHARS, as it’s known, is an effort to move the center of gravity for science and research in Canada a little further north, according to David Hik, Chief Scientist and Executive Director of Programs with Polar Knowledge Canada, which operates the station. In this fascinating episode, we’ll explore the $250-million, state-of-the-art facility, which opened in 2019. We’ll talk to people involved on how this represents a new chance to blend traditional Inuit knowledge with science in an effort to overcome some big issues, not least of which is the impact of climate change in the Arctic, where temperatures are rising at a rate six times faster than in southern Canada.

Journey to the Canadian Arctic where you will marvel at towering icebergs, cruise pristine natural areas to spot amazing Arctic wildlife, enjoy the warmth of an Inuit welcome, and explore the spectacular west coast of Greenland. You’ll travel with local guides who know the place best and can share their cultures with you firsthand.

Expand your knowledge of the places we visit alongside Canadian Geographic ambassador Joseph Frey and Adventure Canada experts on this life-changing journey.
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Check out these other upcoming trips:

- Saskatchewan Whooping Cranes with Carol Patterson
- Patagonia Birds and Wildlife with Kim Gray
- Classic Dolomites with Marlis Butcher