{"id":639007,"date":"2026-04-30T17:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T17:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/639007\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T17:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T17:27:12","slug":"family-at-camp-near-weenusk-river-survives-close-encounter-with-polar-bear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/639007\/","title":{"rendered":"Family at camp near Weenusk River survives close encounter with polar bear"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

Dawn Wabano says it was just a usual morning at her camp at the mouth of the Weenusk River during the spring goose hunt. Until a polar bear came knocking.<\/p>\n

She and her children had slept in a bit and were preparing some food in the cabin, 40 kilometres from Peawanuck on the Hudson Bay Coast.<\/p>\n

Her son looked out the window and said he saw a polar bear standing outside the front door.<\/p>\n

She told him not to joke around, but quickly realized he wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Wabano secured the door and grabbed her rifle, loaded it and told the kids to get in the back room.<\/p>\n

\"ADawn Wabano and her family spends a lot of time at camp, about 40 km from Peawanuck on Hudson Bay (Submitted\/Dawn Wabano)<\/p>\n

She instructed them to get on the radio and call their dad, James Chapman, who was already out at the goose blind.<\/p>\n

He had to run to his snow machine, then zoomed towards the cabin.<\/p>\n

While they waited, she said they felt the gaze of the curious beast.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were here inside the cabin and that polar bear was just looking around, and looking right in the living room window,\u201d she said. \u201cIt came right up close to it a few times. But the dogs were so protective and barking and being ferocious and they were taking turns scaring it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dogs, Rocko and Riley, kept distracting the bear and Wabano credits them with protecting the family in the cabin.<\/p>\n

Chapman arrived at the cabin on his snow machine, and because the bear was at a bit of a distance, he jumped off and darted toward the door.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when he says the bear charged him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a very aggressive polar bear. I haven’t seen that in a polar bear in a while,\u201d said Chapman.<\/p>\n

He made it into the cabin and checked to make sure his family was safe.<\/p>\n

The bear seemed to be retreating again, so Chapman stepped outside.<\/p>\n

Again, he says the bear charged him, so he said he had no choice but to shoot it.<\/p>\n

The parents said the children are changed by the experience.<\/p>\n

\"ThreeChildren of Dawn Wabano and James Chapman play at camp while one of their dogs keeps guard (Submitted\/Dawn Wabano)<\/p>\n

\u201cMy boys always said \u2018oh, we want to see a polar bear, we want to see a polar bear\u2019 and after seeing one, they say they never want to see a polar bear again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Now, the children insist on having a parent outside the cabin with them.<\/p>\n

The family members said they\u2019ve seen polar bears around the area but never near their camp and the animals have never been aggressive.<\/p>\n

They still say the hair-raising incident won\u2019t prevent them from visiting camp, and won’t change their habits.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be prepared out here, but at the same time, it’s a part of our life,\u201d said Wabano.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are dependent on this land. We’re part of it. That’s why we raise our kids like this too. We didn’t think of taking them home or anything because this is our home, so these types of things are going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

She noted the camp is the base where they fish, hunt caribou, pick berries and gather tea as well.<\/p>\n

As for this particular bear that got too close, Wabano said she plans to tan the hide and make mitts for the children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[49,48,66,323],"class_list":["post-639007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}