Swimming with polar bears
 

Have anyone done this:

There's a place in the world where children can swim among polar bears.
Since July 2004, in the little town of Cochrane , northern Ontario ,
you can visit the Polar Bear Habitat
It's a kind of local zoo where people can live the once-in-a-lifetime
experience of an outdoor swim with polar bears.
Of course, the humans are in a different pool, separated from the bears'
habitat by just a layer of glass.
Can you see t
he wat er drops now?
There's a bullet proof, shatterproof glass that's almost 9 centimeters
thick, because although they're cute, polar bears are among the world's most
ferocious carnivores.
It took 20 years for the Polar Bear Conservation and Education Habitat and
Heritage Village to get off the ground.
When it opened in it attracted some 11,000 visitors in the first six months.
And now you're invited to go and swim with all those bears if you dare

Cochrane isn't the easiest place to get to so I'm surprised to read that in the first six months they had 11,000 visitors.

So many kids wanted to swim with bears;-)

I think everyone in Cochrane must have visited twice to get the numbers that high.

Not my business to comment on the (dubious) wisdom of swimming with Polar Bears, but I hope that the message is that it is terribly wrong that these magnificent beasts are even anywhere near human habitat and forced to be there because of disastrous climate changes.

This is the first I've heard of the facility and I went to the website and found the story of Nanook. I remember as a young teenager going to visit the orphan cub at the Calgary Zoo. I have wondered from time to time what became of him and now I know. It's very sad.

I don't believe in keeping bears (or any animal) in captivity generally, but unfortunately there is a need for sanctuary facilities. I'm not sure that "swimming with the bears" is a desirable activity for the animals (too close to humans etc.), but I can understand a need to raise funds to keep the facility running.

"but I hope that the message is that it is terribly wrong that these magnificent beasts are even anywhere near human habitat and forced to be there because of disastrous climate changes."

Well unfortunately there have always been major climate changes thoughout history, either hot or cold, and there always will be. Swimming with the bears is fine as long as one is seperated from them of course as polar bears while cute, eat people.