ABSTRACT
Humans are not on the polar bear’s grocery list. Since Churchill was incorporated in 1771, only two townspeople have been killed by a polar bear. The first death occurred in 1968 when a group of Inuit students tracked a bear and attempted to molest it, causing the bear to attack. The other attack occurred when the Churchill Hotel burned down in 1983. A Cree native by the name of Tommy Mutaten was scavenging for some refuse from the fire when he found the freezer loaded with meat. He naturally filled his pockets. As luck would have it, Tommy ran into a like-minded polar bear. While dragging his lifeless body down the street, the bear was killed by a friend of Tommy’s.
