Manitoba moves to add polar bear to list of official provincial emblems
CBC News | Posted: October 8, 2021 5:51 PM | Last Updated: October 8, 2021
Province has 8 other official emblems, from fossils and flowers to fish and grass
Manitoba is taking steps to give the world's the largest living land carnivore a new status in the province.
The government has introduced legislation to designate the polar bear as an official provincial emblem, Premier Kelvin Goertzen announced Friday in a news release.
Recognizing the polar bear as an official symbol would help build on the province's brand as the polar bear capital of the world and a must-see, one-of-a-kind tourism attraction for visitors of all ages, he said in the release.
If the legislation is approved, the northern white bear would become the second official mammalian emblem of Manitoba, alongside the North American plains bison — and the ninth official emblem overall.
The other official natural emblems for Manitoba are:
- Floral emblem — prairie crocus.
- Fossil emblem — mosasaur.
- Avian emblem — great grey owl.
- Arboreal emblem — white spruce.
- Soil — orthic black chernozem (Newdale soil).
- Fish emblem — walleye.
- Mammal emblem — plains bison.
- Grass emblem — big bluestem.
The polar bear has long been associated with Manitoba, which is home to one of the world's largest known maternity denning areas, located in Wapusk National Park on the shores of Hudson Bay.
The bears have also made Wapusk's neighbour, the town of Churchill, a globally famous tourist attraction. Known as the polar bear capital of the world, Churchill is one of the few human settlements where the bears can be observed in the wild.
Manitoba is also home the Leatherdale International Polar Bear Conservation Centre — a hub for wildlife education, research, and conservation, located inside Winnipeg's Assiniboine Park Zoo.
The zoo itself is home to nine polar bears in its Journey to Churchill exhibit.