Mama Bear's Journey

The frozen ground thunders as my giant paws walk, it is Spring now, I am looking for food for myself and my cub. She was born while I hibernate for nine months and not eating - a long time to go without food and nursing my little one. I live in Alaska, near the Arctic Ocean, and comb the shores looking for seal or dead whales that might wash up. I also eat seaweed in the summer now, something new I discovered. You see, I need 20,000 calories a day or so to store as fat in my body for the winter. My baby is six months old now, and he will stay with me for six to eight months before going on his own. My name is Meika - and we the great Polar Bears of the North are becoming extinct. there are perhaps 20,000 of us left worldwide, fewer in Alaska, Global Warming has been the main culprit.

I am being studied by two humans, who live in a station here, equipped with tracking devices, monitoring where I go and what I do, I have been tagged, they didnt hurt me. They shot with me a tranquilizer gun and put a microchip on the back of my tiny ear. I dont even know its their really. I am too busy looking for food.

"Have you got her signal Jake?" Richard asked his colleague, while he watched the radar moving around the black screen as the cold bitter wind howled outside their hut. They have lived here for a year now, enduring the wild harshness of Alaska, studying polar bears in hopes to find ways to save them.

"OK, I think I have something, she is going to the edge of the ocean, she may decide to take a swim for awhile, stay out of the channell, she could die." Richard was referring to a series of ice mazes, miles and miles of tiny rivers cutting through ice, many sea animals died trying to escape.

"She gave birth, she is nursing, she won't take chances, but if she's hungry enough she is capable of eating whatever is in front of her." Jake replied glumily, knowing full well the cannabism endured - they will eat their own if near starvation, although a human as rarely witnessed this, thankfully, but a few have seen it. The natives have, an oldtimer had told him the story, horrifying as it was to listen to, Jake and his colleague were determined to help this mother bear.

.....

I see something floating near the edge of the black frigid water, the tide is low, I hold my head high and sniff the air, my legs weak from hunger and nursing, my nipples sore and drying up now. A dead ringed seal!!!!! How lucky is that? Seal which consists mainly of fat is my favorite thing in the world. I lay down flat on my belly, and pawed the water, the seal almost at the shore now. I pushed my giant body foward, in a snails crawl, and with my sharp nails I tonged it tightly and hauled in my food. It took a lot of effort, seals are heavy, and I am weak. Hunger perseveres weakness now. It is a fight to survive.

After hauling the carcass up I began to eat some. I ate as much as I could for now, but I pulled out a large piece of fat from its body to bring back to the cave, my baby would eat now too, we would be okay for awhile. The seagulls and wolves would clean up the rest, everyone would have food around here.

CHECKPOINT STATION - 3:45 AM

Beep Beep Beep went the alarm clock. Richard got up to make coffee. He clicked on the radar, the wind outside howling and uninviting, they would need to go into town for supplies soon. He opened a can of beans and grabbed a slab of bacon from the freezer, some eggs and bread.

"Great, she didnt go for a swim after all, and by the slow movements she is bringing food back for her cub." He told the screen, Jack was still sleeping but would wake soon to the smell of coffee. In the far distance a wolf could be heard, the lonely cry travelling across the snowed plains. They each had their rifles, high powered hunting - even black bears were a danger, and food for them as well. They did not plan on leaving here anytime soon. This project was a change, to help save these precious beasts, no matter the risk or what it took.

SPRING - JUNE 2022

I had fed my little one the last of the seal meat. I managed to find some duck eggs, a whole lot of them nearby in the marsh. Duck eggs were loaded with protein and fat, 250 a day were plenty to sustain us for the winter. And now the bountiful seaweed was everywhere, and I showed him how to chew it. He would be leaving me soon. Ready to go out and continue our journey to survive. I would find another male, and bear another cub the following season, I was getting old now, it would be my last birthing this year.

Maybe someday the humans can find a way to save us, and change the planet for the better, there is always hope. We love to roam the world you see, and I have given five babies so far, but now I am too tired to spend another winter without food. I want to lie down and sleep.

"We need to go soon to town, have you got the checklist ready for supplies we need?" Richard asked Jack, who had already begun to get what he needed ready. They would take the snowmobile today, it was faster, and the sled was attached to it for their load. He checked their rifles, ensuring they were fully loaded in case of danger. This time of year most of the animals were hungry, looking for prey, he didnt want to think what would happen if a pack of wolves decided to choose them. Jack enjoyed going to the village, socializing with the kind Natives, sometimes they would invite them into their homes, they had tv's and satellite. The kids were adorable, someday he would marry and have his own family too, at 32 he was wanting that. But, for now, his life was here. The bears were more important for him, and he had to finish his theses. One day at a time.