A member of the Canadian Rangers in Black Tickle is being kept busy of late trying to keep polar bears away from the community.
When the sea ice moves south in the spring, it brings with it seals….and polar bears looking for a feast.
At least one local resident recently had a terrifying encounter with a bear that pushed against a window of her home, smashing it open.
(Photo: Tara Keefe)
Jeffrey Keefe, a technician with NL Hydro, is usually focused on ensuring that the local diesel generating station is kept running, but he’s been occupied in recent weeks keeping an eye open for polar bears.
He tells VOCM News he’s counted at least 31 animals which have either passed through the community, or within 2 km of the town on the sea ice.
Keefe, who has been driving polar bears away from the community for the last 23 years, is not worried about the animals, but many people are not too fussy about them getting close.
Polar Bears have been popping up on northern coastal regions of the province, for the last couple of weeks. Your @590VOCM Mornings will hear fr fearless Canadian Ranger, Jeffery Keefe about the many bear sightings & encounters in his community of Black Tickle, Labrador. @VOCMBen pic.twitter.com/GpmPTaQaC8
— Gerri Lynn Mackey (@GerriLynnMackey) March 30, 2023
He says one bear spent quite some time in and around the community before Ambrose and Florence Keefe had their close encounter.
He says the day before, the bear came up to the dock and they drove him back out to Black Tickle Island where he spent the day. Later that night, the bear came back, and ended up at Brian and Alice Morris’ house where he tore a piece of plywood off their basement and crawled inside. Keefe says he later came out, stood up by the house and left paw prints where he looked in through a window before ambling on to the local medical clinic.
“Nobody up there would let him in,” Keefe jokes, so the bear moved on to Ambrose and Florence Keefe’s where Ambrose told him he heard a noise. Thinking it was his wife and daughter initially, he got a strange feeling and when he pulled back the curtains to the window, there was the bear pushing his paws up against the glass.
