Male polar bear - Churchill, Manitoba, Canada

Each year, Ursus International holds a raffle to raise money to support its bear conservation work. The prize is a place on one of the five-day polar bear Learning Vacation courses offered each fall by the Churchill Northern Studies Centre, at Hudson Bay, in Canada.  The course that this year's prizewinner will attend will be in mid November, and the specific dates will be posted soon. The course, which normally costs CDN$2200, is taught by Rupert Pilkington, Executive Director of Ursus International.

If you would like to participate in the raffle and help fund Ursus International’s work, you can buy tickets with a credit card through the links below.  If you would prefer to pay for raffle tickets by cheque, please send payment, stating the number of tickets you want, to the following address.  Please pay for exactly the number of tickets you want, and don’t make any deductions for multiple purchases.  If you make a multiple ticket purchase, bonus tickets will be added to your total on receipt of your payment.  Please include your name, address e-mail address and phone number with your cheque.

Male polar bear - Churchill, Manitoba, Canada (6)

Churchill and its surrounding area, on the southwestern shore of Hudson Bay, provide unique opportunities to view polar bears in the wild. In late October, the bears, which spend the summer inland, migrate towards the bay in preparation for freeze-up, in the fall. The sea-ice functions as a platform on which the bears can hunt for ringed seals, which are their primary food source.

The Learning Vacation courses at the Churchill Northern Studies Centre run over a six-week period from mid-October until the third week in November. The courses, which are well established and which attract participants from all over the world, have an adventure tourism orientation within a serious educational context.

• 2 full days watching the bears from Tundra Buggies
• A helicopter flight
• Dog-sledding
• A half day in Churchill itself, visiting its shops and museums
• All lectures including a lecture by a local guest speaker
• Food and accommodation
• Pick-up and drop-off at the station or airport (travel to Churchill is not included in the prize)