Soul On Ice

Doing hard time in Manitoba’s polar bear jail: “The bears also do not have cellmates. Stainless-steel doors cover the bars so the bears cannot see people or each other. Conservation officials want to prevent them from getting accustomed to humans to avoid complications when they are released. Usually bears ‘do’ 30 days in the Churchill compound before they are tranquilized, put in a net and flown up north where they are marked with a green dot and tattooed before being released. Each flight costs approximately $3,000 and usually only carries one bear at a time.”