Canada Polar Bear Prison

Polar bear prison opens in Canada 

They might be one of the world’s most powerful predators but there’s something even polar bears should be afraid of - jail.

The world’s first prison for them has opened in Canada – and there’s nothing they can do but grin and bear it. 

During the summer months, scores of hungry bears head to the tiny town of Churchill, even breaking into homes in search of food. 

But after years of being terrorised by the 572kg (90st) animals, the residents decided to bite back. 

Their 28-cell ‘jail’ holds polar bears in small rooms for up to a month – unless they have been ‘particularly nasty’. 

During their time in the cooler, the bears are fed nothing but water in a bid to discourage them from coming back. 

Bob Windsor, from the holding facility, revealed that every year more than 1,000 bears pass through the town in search of a meal. 

They head inland when the ice on Hudson Bay in Manitoba melts, cutting off their usual food supply of seals. 

‘We try to make their stay as unpleasant as possible,’ said Mr Windsor. 

‘The last time someone was killed by a bear was 1983 but you never walk out of a door without looking both ways.’

The Jail

The "Polar Bear Jail" in the Canadian town of Churchill will be expanding to house more wayward carnivores.

According to press reports, the facility was built in 1980 in the polar bear capital of the world.

The facility will also be cooled now over the summer to make the furry inmates' incarceration a bit more bearable.

Shaun Bobier of the Manitoba Conservation Department stated that polar bears are now captured if they can not be easily scared off after wandering into the town during summer and autumn. The bears are released during the winter after Hudson's Bay has frozen.

At this time, the facility has 23 holding cells, which are separated by cinder blocks. However, if the facility becomes overcrowded, some bears are relocated far away by helicopter.

The expansion will call for five more cells to be added so that they can hold more bears for longer periods of time.

In 2004, 170 bears were kept behind bars and were only given water and ice. It was to ensure that the bears did not keep coming to the jail for food.

And since bears usually fast during the summer months, the meager prison grub is not cruel or unusual for the bears.

The prison only housed 58 bears in 2005.