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What to Do When There’s a Polar Bear in Your Backyard | Alysa McCall | TED

As Arctic ice melts, polar bears are being forced on land — and they’re hungry. With the apex predators frequently turning to human junkyards for a snack, northern towns have had to get creative in order to keep both their people and wildlife safe. Biologist and conservationist Alysa McCall shares lessons from the field on…

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As Arctic ice melts, polar bears are being forced on land — and they’re hungry. With the apex predators frequently turning to human junkyards for a snack, northern towns have had to get creative in order to keep both their people and wildlife safe. Biologist and conservationist Alysa McCall shares lessons from the field on how to safely navigate contact with these magnificent animals and plan for a future where climate change forces us all a little closer.

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32 Comments

32 Comments

  1. 117MasterSpartan

    April 17, 2023 at 7:59 am

    If there’s a polar bear in your backyard, grab your console, put on minecraft, give them a controller, and let them build with you

  2. Christian Soldier

    April 17, 2023 at 8:05 am

    It’s a ghost bear !!! Because everyone knows that climate change killed all the polar bears !!!!! lol lol 😂

  3. HAZIEL

    April 17, 2023 at 8:11 am

    Give him a big bear hug.

  4. Milosh Addams

    April 17, 2023 at 8:15 am

    Probably call Kabib

  5. Peter Weller

    April 17, 2023 at 8:18 am

    Yes nan I am here to tell you my butt hole completely diallylated upon a chance encounter with a black bear sow 375@’s or so still 40 mph.

  6. MrCarter'sRods

    April 17, 2023 at 8:19 am

    Look at it and say “Sorry. Some of us tried.”

  7. TheWriterNW

    April 17, 2023 at 8:22 am

    I’m going to go with… leave the animal alone.

  8. JASONS WORLD

    April 17, 2023 at 8:25 am

    This is ignorant. YouTube should remove this for disinformation.

  9. JASONS WORLD

    April 17, 2023 at 8:26 am

    Fire up the grill, and make 🐻 🥩!!

  10. 森田. Morita淳一郎 Junichiro

    April 17, 2023 at 8:34 am

    Russia, the United States, Canada, other Arctic regions, gas oil, etc., won’t the development of the natural environment deteriorate?

  11. Elaxer Blaxer

    April 17, 2023 at 8:46 am

    Right when I was searching for cute polar bears, I get this notification!

  12. Arturo Ferrer

    April 17, 2023 at 9:11 am

    Are u sure humans r causing climate change alone? R u willing to give it up ur comfort, d comfort of millions of people?

  13. 1goldinga

    April 17, 2023 at 9:15 am

    Move further south

  14. Sayusayme🦋

    April 17, 2023 at 9:15 am

    Love what your sharing, thank you.
    Can’t lose these magnificent animals.
    🤍
    🇨🇦

  15. SaltyPineapple

    April 17, 2023 at 9:33 am

    talk about the 50% incentive real quick tho. cause they are have to hunt bears with dogs not snowmobiles, but they can use an M14 to shoot it dead. very traditional. and pretty sure they fill their quota of personal bears so they can have the other 50% of quotas maximized, so they can be sold to tourist and makes tons of money off the death the bear. It helps the small poor communities hugely, hence why theyd want to maximize how many tourist tags they can get. Very traditional to sell out a hunting trip around a tourist, and like with everest im guessing your doing most of the work for the fish out of water tourists. All very much preserving their natural way of life….

  16. SaltyPineapple

    April 17, 2023 at 9:41 am

    crazy the influence 600 person village in middle of nowhere seems to have a lot of influence on a population so important. Kinda like if they set up a village in the middle of one of the last and largest gorilla populations, purely for the tourism of it all. But we wouldnt allow an African country to do such a thing, they dont know better but that is a terrible idea. whilst in canada, we will exactly that!

    • Carl Thor

      April 17, 2023 at 11:21 am

      Churchill was built as a grain exporting port, and still is, they tried at Port Nelson area, near York Factory, but the estuary would silt up so fast, they stopped there and moved it to Churchill.
      I have flown over and worked around both areas, in the 80’s.
      Best wishes from the North.

  17. SaltyPineapple

    April 17, 2023 at 9:44 am

    maybe the 600 people village is in the polar bears area and not the otherway around. maybe those people should avoid the bears by living ANYWHERE ELSE, but no they live there now there livelihood is the tourism and you cant deprive them of that! so shoot the bears when they get closer and setup elaborate systems and 24h security for this tiny village…yay!

  18. Edgar D

    April 17, 2023 at 10:03 am

    What’s a polar bear doing in the deep south? 🤔

  19. Maribelle Lebre

    April 17, 2023 at 11:15 am

    Definitely need an alternative to collars.

  20. Motivation Quotes

    April 17, 2023 at 11:49 am

    Cool 😎👍

  21. ThrustersX

    April 17, 2023 at 12:37 pm

    I’ll give them a warm hug 🐻

  22. Karl from High Rock

    April 17, 2023 at 1:35 pm

    Cut hole in ice, put green peas around it. When polar bear comes to take a pea you kick him in the ice hole.

  23. David –

    April 17, 2023 at 1:44 pm

    It’s quite depressing that climate change is the biggest cause for many of these nature related problems. Let’s all act together.

  24. Dea

    April 17, 2023 at 3:02 pm

    If you encounter a white bear…. You are dinner

  25. EggSixTea

    April 17, 2023 at 3:11 pm

    give me a shout out

  26. Lola Hernandez

    April 18, 2023 at 12:57 am

    It’s not a polar bear, it’s my husband in my backyard.

  27. None of your Damn Business

    April 18, 2023 at 2:36 am

    *Sure, this is my highest concern at the moment*

  28. celestialcircledance

    April 18, 2023 at 6:26 am

    If Bears have less access to there regular food supply and humans are keeping a tighter lid on theirs I would think that they would be more likely to attack humans themselves out of hunger and desperation. What is being done to ensure that the Bears have enough food since climate change is a long-term problem that won’t be solved overnight ?

  29. Justin Griffin

    April 18, 2023 at 7:05 am

    TEd seems to have been hijacked—I love polar bears, but the way she speaks is so ambiguous-their numbers are increasing–the real danger is the George soroses, Klaus shwaabs, bill gates —–they buy ocean front properties yachts, travel in private jets-and try to scare everyone that without a carbon tax we will all die…

  30. Commenter

    April 18, 2023 at 11:17 am

    oh it’s polar tiem 🐻‍❄

  31. jude smith

    April 18, 2023 at 8:31 pm

    Some of the commenters forget the kid who wanted to pet Benki at the zoo. Kid lost his balls, family sued because their son was that stupid. On the tundra polar bears eat everything that isn’t their own species. They kill each other too.

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