so there's a huge polar bear that's just
right over there right behind me we just
came over this mountain and it actually
started running right toward us it was
actually pretty scary
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by the end of this century climate
models suggest we could be seeing
temperatures that we haven't seen for
about three and a half million years and
three and a half million years ago it
was a very different world and I'm not
sure it's a world that we want to try
and live in so we're in the San
Francisco Zoo here at their polar bear
exhibit and and this is Lulu
they actually kind of looks more like a
grizzly bear right now how is climate
change affected polar bears we've seen a
lot of different effects from warming
climate and the loss of sea ice we've
seen unusual distribution and movements
we've seen unusual feeding patterns more
cannibalism events we've seen a
declining stature that is bears are not
as big as they used to be and not
growing as fast and one of the most
important things is declining survival
rates and when people who work on polar
bears say that survival rates are
declining what they're really saying is
that more bears are starving to death
and so how does that increase rates of
starvation how does that affect polar
bear human interactions that's a really
good question we have more and more
bears that are hungry that are spending
more and more time on land people live
on land polar bears are predators
they're big animals and the things that
they normally eat are the size of you
and me if they're really hungry they're
not just gonna lay down and die the
other side of it is that if you're a
traditional hunter living on the land
and suddenly you're seeing bears where
you didn't see bears before you might be
inclined to think oh there's more bears
seeing more animals often isn't an
indication that there are more animals
it's an indication that there's a
problem
little bird oh yeah
which must be a
looks very pretty
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[Applause]
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yep you know you've lived in this
general area for your whole life
have you seen climate change affect this
area yeah
we see a lot of change just draw the
green a lot of green grass and well sure
going really up higher than normal
anymore there's no and then I did and
some of them don't look very healthy and
some are hungry you're not getting feel
yesterday you think that there's a lack
of life did you have to carry guns for
protection
why do you have to carry a gun now
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just feels like everywhere you go just
for the bear bag I seen should be more
interest than they did before is it
scarier to stay out here now than it
would have been 40 years ago yeah
where am I not the same and it's been
really scary
where do you begin some dream eater come
across this way with my tap the only
video I always think of it as around 215
or 230 woke up to kind of I was in a
dream it was sort of like and we hear I
heard Matt screaming help me help me in
in a very frightened tone so i sat up
very quickly and looked out and there
was the bear over Matt's tent somebody I
think I heard Marta maybe say he got
Matt we hear the scream and everybody's
screaming and I jump out of my tent
grabbing the gun with me and I look out
and Matt's being dragged by the bear
where did he drag you off that way
I don't out fire he got me that this
well I mean at that point the bear had
stopped about 75 feet away standing
there with Matt enriched fire the flare
gun as he did before the bear drop Matt
ran away about maybe 50 yards and
stopped and turned around and started
going back toward Matt and that's what
it became really obvious that this bear
was you know it was stalking us and it
wasn't gonna give up which quickly blows
the gun and fires it again and then the
bear just picks off in the direction
where the big male bear had sat on the
promontory a couple of nights before
Rick and I started running out to get
Matt we pulled him back we realized he
was live pretty dazed and pretty bloody
so Rick who is a physician took a quick
look at an assess his condition and said
look we've got to get him back into the
campsite so we pulled Benton Matt back
in to camp making sure there was no bear
around and at any time we're all kind of
well we're concerned about the polar
bear we only had five shells left and it
was dark and so if this bear wanted to
be really persistent we were gonna be in
in in real trouble and I'm gonna I'm
gonna say
be wrong they took me when I got hurt
they dragged me and then Rick stayed
with Matt inside this sort of tent
enclosure that we created with the cook
tent Rick just immediately kicked into
the doctor mode and took over the care
of of Matt and then I immediately got
the satellite phone out and started
trying to get ahold of the Parks Canada
people were calling for help and it took
about five hours I think to get the
helicopter there that's where the
helicopter landed
see those two oh yeah Gretchen's yeah I
don't know what kind of go back he was
still conscious and talking I gave him
some painkillers he wanted to kept
wanting to stand up he kept wanting to
he said he just didn't feel like sitting
down or laying down his back was sore I
said that's not bad for someone who just
got attacked by a polar bear at least
year-round to feel it he laughed a
little and my sponged off most of the
blood off his head and out of his hair
and off his back and then I went to the
throat one and when I took the bandage
off the the first thing I noticed was
the smell he had probably swallowed or
inhaled I would suggest at least half a
liter of blood and it was going rancid
in his lungs and once you smell it it's
it smells like death
the evacuation of Matt was Walker you
know from the time that the helicopter
picked him up to the time he was in
surgery and it was astounding sorry it
was just um it was just amazing to see
him make it through that there was a
fella down there on that beach six of
his friends sleep at night near the full
moon July over the top of his tent came
to pea legs the four legs down they came
down they came and ripped him out of his
tent
took him away dead in the mouth of the
bay yeah it was quite certainly be
killed but he wasn't his friend saved
him brought him back put a tent around
him kept him warm got help people helped
him took him
he won't got in the hospital Montreal
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see his wife's face that's it that's the
story I think that's all I want to do
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you know this isn't just about polar
bears ultimately unabated warming will
affect every ecosystem every species
that we're concerned about including us
it happens that polar bears are at the
thin edge of the wedge they're already
being affected because there's such a
direct relationship between their
habitat the sea ice and global
temperature I like to say that that
polar bears are a harbinger of things to
come to all of us if we don't change our
ways oh everything's changed about polar
bears for me
polar bears has become such an icon for
a global warming but but they're all
cute and they're all adorable or they
are furry and that's not who they are
they are the top of the food chain they
are predators as we destroy the ice as
we destroy their habitat we are
destroying this unbelievably magnificent
animal but their cuteness has changed
for me I think for all of us
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[Applause]
how do you feel about Eli saying that he
thinks that the bear that attacked you
is the one that we saw in the Willows
over there well that'd be good to see
that bear and that I knows all right I
know I had feelings I don't know if it
goes both ways he probably I'd still
like seeing mr. Dyle
I'd still like that light yeah there
dinner well tell me what you got a plan
for the rest of the summer well I got
back to work on Monday after almost the
whole month not being there so I got I'm
gonna have a lot on my plate Labor Day
and having some friends over I'm gonna
barbecue some ribs and some chicken have
the kind of patty actually the I'm
getting some tattoo work done all the
bad tattoos in it yeah I'm gonna have
some ink put on I got a lot already
can't see yet but