• Home
  • About
    • Elizabeth: Personally
    • Education Certifications Affiliations
  • Coaching
    • Educational Coaching
    • Non-Profit Coaching
    • Executive Coaching
    • Leadership Coaching
    • Group/Team Coaching >
      • Sample Workshops
    • One-to-One Coaching
  • Testimonials
  • Media
  • Africa Project
  • Blog
Critchley Coaching
Contact Elizabeth
403.256.4164
​critche@telus.net

Polar Bear Jail

11/15/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture

This wasn’t the post I was expecting to write this week but I’m learning to ‘go with it’!  Jim and I, our daughter, Kaitlyn, and her fiancé, Matt just went on an incredible one day adventure yesterday.  We flew from Calgary to Churchill, Manitoba for a one day, once in a lifetime, Polar Bear Safari! (Ok, maybe twice for me as I’d love to go again)

As usual, there is wisdom in everything and here is a tidbit from what I learned yesterday.  As we made the short bus ride from the charter plane to the place where we boarded the tundra buggy along the beautiful coast of Hudson Bay, the bus driver, Paul, was telling us a bit about living in Churchill and about the bears.  He pointed out a building that he told us was the Bear Jail.

Here is the story.  In the 1970’s and early ‘80’s if a bear wondered into town, it was shot.  Everyone had a gun.  Bears were seen as a nuisance, and they absolutely were a threat.  At that time, people simply didn’t understand that much about the bears and certainly did not take into account the implications of shooting them.  Many were killed each year. 

Flash forward almost 40 years.  Now, bears are almost never killed in Churchill if there is an alternative.  One such alternative is the Bear Jail.  When a bear presents itself as a problem now, the bear is captured and placed in the Bear Jail until it can be sedated and then airlifted away from town.  Sometimes the bear has to be in the jail for many days until resources are available for air lift.  While we were there, there were 18 bears in the jail.

Paul told us that the first years they did this they fed the bears that were in jail.  They later realized that once they were released, these fed bears returned to town and became problems year after year because they realized that the jail was a good and easy place to get food.  Keep in mind that at this time of year, the bears are waiting to go out on the ice to hunt seals.  They have not eaten since spring time and they are hungry.  Paul said that in jail now, the bears are given ice and water, but no food.  He reminded us that even though this might seem cruel, a hungry bear is much better than a dead bear.  And he reminded us that bears in the wild go months without food at this time of the year.  He knows that people might criticize this practice but that it is best for the bears.

I thought about the times in our lives when we have to deal with a person with a bad behaviour that our reaction is to do something that makes US feel better.  We justify that this is kind (feed the jailed bear). For instance, if we deal with a person who gets upset when things don’t go their way, we tend to avoid having that happen.   We often do this so that we don’t have to watch them, or deal with them, being upset.  We might give them what they want even when we know it is not the best solution but it makes us feel like we are being kind.  We might begin to foresee what could upset them and start planning to avoid having it happen at all. They never have to change their behavior (being bad bears) because in the end they get what they want by doing it.  When we do these things, we are simply reinforcing the very behaviour that we do not want or like.  We stop their bad behaviour for the moment, but soon they are back, doing the exact same thing, knowing how we will respond.   And we ‘feed’ them again.

Our bus had flat tire on the way back to the airport in the dark and Paul had to call for a new bus.  We were transferred onto it very carefully, as Paul’s wife had radioed the bus and warned him that there was a huge polar bear at Paul’s house, which was near to where we were.  Paul removed the rather large gun that he carries on his bus and brought it with us.  The new bus driver dropped Paul off at the end of his driveway and we watched him trudge up the driveway with his gun, in the dark, making plenty of noise to warn the bear.   He said that he wasn’t afraid, that this was just life and he was very glad that he and the rest of the resident’s of Churchill, were learning to live in relationship with the bears.  The bears did not have to be shot, nor did they always have to get what they wanted.  They have learned to co-exist. 

I’m going to offer that we stop feeding the bears in our lives.  If you notice yourself responding to a colleague or friend in a way that does not stop a behaviour that is not wanted, but simply reinforces it, try responding in a new way (take away their proverbial food).  It will be uncomfortable at first.  In fact, their behaviour might escalate for a bit as they test you to make sure that you are really serious about not ‘feeding’ them anymore.  But, gradually, they’ll figure out that they need to change their behaviour, or go find someone else who is willing to feed them.
​
Thanks Churchill, Manitoba.  I had the most amazing day in your backyard yesterday.  I’ll treasure it for a long time to come.

Polar Bear Jail, Churchill, Manitoba

Picture
1 Comment
Tessa
11/15/2015 12:22:55 pm

I also took a journey to Churchill a couple years back - truly enjoyed the experience! What a great analogy "I need to stop feeding the Bears in my life" Thanks for sharing!

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Sign up below to have my blog delivered to your inbox weekly.

    Enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

    RSS Feed

    Author

    Elizabeth Critchley (CPCC, ACC) is an accredited, certified, Professional Life Coach who excels at helping motivated clients clearly define and work toward their goals, dreams and purpose.  She believes it takes the same amount of energy to create a big dream as it does to create a little dream.  She encourages her clients to dare to dream big.

    Archives

    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015

    Categories

    All

©2018 Elizabeth Critchley