From pal to predator: Polar bear KILLS and eats sled dog in the same Canada sanctuary where heartwarming viral video was shot days earlier

  • The sled dog was chained up within the Mile 5 Dog Sanctuary in Churchill, Manitoba, when it was attacked and eaten by a polar bear this week
  • Conservation officers removed the bear, as well as two others
  • Dog owner Charlie Ladoon believes the bear was hungry
  • He said the attack occurred on the 'one day' he didn't feed the bears
  • At the weekend a video surfaced from the same sanctuary showing a polar bear playing with one of Ladoon's dogs, which was also chained up   

By Dailymail.com Reporter

Published: 17:11 EST, 18 November 2016 | Updated: 18:01 EST, 18 November 2016

A sled dog has been killed in the same Canada dog sanctuary where a heartwarming viral video of a polar bear was filmed at the weekend, the owner has confirmed. 

The viral clip showed an enormous polar bear stroking a lounging dog on the head inside the Mile 5 Dog Sanctuary in Churchill, Manitoba.

Conservation officers were called to remove three polar bears from the site after one of the animals attacked and ate a sled dog, CBC reported.

The other two, a mother and cub, were moved along because the bears were being fed and the female's behavior was also becoming a concern.  

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From pal to predator:  A polar bear attacked and killed a sled dog in the same Manitoba sanctuary where this viral video was filmed days earlier, showing a bear playing with a dog

Charlie Ladoon, who runs the Mile 5 Dog Sanctuary, said the dog that was killed was chained up at the time.

'That was the only day we didn't feed the f**king bears, the only night we didn't put anything out,' he said.

Humans are not allowed to feed polar bears under Manitoba's Endangered Species and Ecosystem Act.

Ladoon admits he 'takes care' of the bears.

Ian Stirling, an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta, said that Ladoon's dogs should not have been on chains for their own protection. He said the bear was likely just hungry.

'The dog was chained up and they're totally vulnerable,' he said. '(Hunters) over the years in the high Arctic have told me that if you want a dog to act as a guard dog, you have to leave it off a chain,' Stirling told the station.

'Because if it's on a chain it knows it's vulnerable and it won't bark.'

Bearing it: In the video, the dog happily lets the bear pet it with both its paws. It is unclear if the same bear or dog were involved in the recent attack

Just a few days earlier, a visitor to the sanctuary filmed a video of a polar bear interacting with one of Ladoon's dog in an incredibly friendly manner, which quickly went viral.

The clip was shot by David De Meulles of Manitoba.  

'I had no idea what was going to happen, and then sure enough he started petting that dog, acted like he was a friend,' De Meulles told CBC. 

'I just so happened to catch a video of a lifetime.'

De Meulles was taking tourists to see polar bears when they came across the dogs, which were chained up at the time.

Ladoon breeds the rare sled dogs, which are impervious to the cold.

In the video, the bear at first towers over the chained animal, which placidly lies at its feet.

But then the beast reaches out tenderly with its right paw and gently - if clumsily - brings it down over the dog's head. 

It sniffs the dog, which has barely reacted, and pets it again, more confidently this time. Then it switches to its left paw and begins rubbing the dog's head.

Time's up: Eventually, the dog seems to tire of the bear and gets up to wander off, forcing the bear to back up, as the chain is wrapped around its forelegs

At this point the pooch, apparently slightly irritated by its wild companion, stands up and begins to walk off - forcing the bear, which has the dog's chain wrapped around its front legs - to back off too.

'I've known the bears to have somewhat friendly behaviour with the dogs, but for a bear to pet like a human would pet a dog is just mind-blowing,' De Meulles said.

'It was a beautiful sight to see, and I just can't believe an animal that big would show that kind of heart toward another animal.'

Ladoon told CBC at the time that the dogs, which are bred for the cold, see the chilly area as a 'paradise' and are rarely troubled by predators, save the occasional attack by wolves.

There have been 'scares' with polar bears, he said, but the 'primitive and fearless' dogs usually keep the nasty bears in their place. 

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