Dad dies while protecting his kids from a polar bear in Nunavut

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to correctly identify the island on which Gibbons was found to Sentry Island. Global News regrets the error. 

A Nunavut man died this week while protecting his children from a rare polar bear attack.

RCMP say Aaron Gibbons, 31, was on an island about 10 kilometres from the hamlet of Arviat, along the west coast of Hudson Bay, on Tuesday afternoon when the bear attacked.

“He was enjoying his day with his children,” said Gordy Kidlapik, Gibbons’s uncle. “They were surprised by a bear that had started to stalk or charge toward one of his children.

“What (Aaron) did was he told his children to run away to the boat while he was putting himself between the bear and his children to protect them.”

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The children, described as elementary school age, made it safely to the boat. One of the girls called for help on the CB radio.

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“We actually heard the call for help,” said Kidlapik. “It was terrible to listen to.”

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Gibbons was pronounced dead at the scene.

Kidlapik said his nephew would have had a rifle with him.

“That island, you know, it’s one of the places where there will be bears. It’s normal to walk around with a rifle.”

RCMP said Gibbons didn’t have his rifle immediately to hand when the bear attacked. They said the bear was shot and killed by other adults on what is known as Sentry Island.

Kidlapik said many in the hamlet stood on the beach Tuesday night under the midnight sun as Gibbons’s body was brought home.

“It’s a very big shock,” he said.

“There’s never been a mauling this serious since I started going out. It’s the first mauling that I know of.”

Dan Pimentel of Nunavut’s Environment Department said the last fatal polar bear mauling was in 2000 near Rankin Inlet, about 200 kilometres up the coast from Arviat.

Pimentel said little information was immediately available as to the bear’s condition at the time of the attack.

“That will have to wait until our conservation officers get there and are able to examine the bear. There’s only limited information you can get right away as to the health of the bear.”