10-year-old girl from Whale Cove, Nunavut, takes down her first polar bear

Ava Nipisar lay in the snow, watching quietly from behind a rifle outside of her home community of Whale Cove, Nunavut. Through the scope, Nipisar watched a polar bear slowly making its way over the thin sea ice. 

It took more than an hour for the bear to make it to solid land, and Nipisar was able to take her shot.

In the end, it took 10 shots for the 10-year-old to down the large animal. 

When she walked up to it, Nipisar started to cry. She said they were happy tears. 

"Because I know my grandma's watching me killing the bear," Nipisar said. 

Her grandmother passed away from cancer a month ago. Ava said she knows her grandmother would be proud of her.

Sean Nipisar, Ava's father, said he has been working to make sure his children know their traditions from a young age. Sean learned the traditional skills from his father-in-law especially. 

"That's part of our culture," Sean said. "I try and teach my kids young and that you can do anything right? Like that was my goal, right for all my kids. It was the father and daughter thing. Special." 

Polar bears — called nanuq in Inuktitut — are important culturally and economically for Inuit. The bears are an important source of country food and the meat and hide are used for decoration, artwork, clothing, mattresses and blankets. 

A report from the federal government in January 2024 said polar bears are a resilient and clever predator that adapts as prey and habitat change.

A limited number of tags are issued to hunters each year for polar bear management. Sean received his tag earlier in the fall. 

Ava said getting the 10-foot bear home was tough. 

"It was really heavy to lift up the head, the feet were heavy too," Ava said. 

Sean showed Ava the next steps of transporting and skinning the bear as well.