Tripod aka Hercules at Seal River Heritage Lodge with her new cub. Quent Plett photo.
Managers and staff are always excited to see the first polar bear of the season at Seal River Heritage Lodge when they’re preparing the lodge for the first polar bear safari of the season, Birds, Bears & Belugas, but nobody expected it to be the three-legged polar bear Tripod this year, and we certainly never expected her to have a cub!
Full Story: Icy endurance, A leg short, mama bear toughs it out amid Arctic’s brutal extremes, Winnipeg Free Press, July 3, 2025
Blueberry-stained Tripod at Seal River Heritage Lodge. Steve Pressman / YouGottaLoveNature photo.
We first saw Tripod in the fall of 2021, and she had part of her right hind leg missing. The general consensus was that she had sustained a crush injury while out on the shifting ice of Hudson Bay. Survival in the Arctic is difficult even for a healthy polar bear, and while we were hopeful, no one really expected her to survive.
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Tripod has since made multiple appearances at not only Seal River Heritage Lodge, 60 km north of Churchill, but also at Dymond Lake Ecolodge, and in the town of Churchill, where observers apparently named her Hercules.
“We were all thrilled to see her, and then all of a sudden we saw that she had a cub and then we were really excited.” said Tyler Warkentin, who has performed maintenance at the Churchill Wild ecolodges since 2019. “Ben (Lawrence) spotted her coming off the ice. She was out on the point and she and her cub walked to within 20 feet of the lodge fence. Then she headed straight inland. I think Quent (Plett) saw her heading towards the Seal River.”
Tripod during the summer of 2023 at Seal River Heritage Lodge. Kathryn Cehrs photo.
Plett, who has done everything there is to do at the Churchill Wild lodges, has spent over 40 years working for the Webber-Reimer family on the Hudson Bay coast, and has never seen anything like it.
“I’ve never seen a three-legged bear before,” he said. “And it’s amazing that this bear seems to be doing well. It’s not famished or thin. It looks healthy. A female polar bear has to put on some pounds, to make it through fasting time, and produce enough milk for her cub, and she’s done that.”
Tripod in the fall of 2023 at Seal River Heritage Lodge. Steve Pressman / YougottaLoveNature.com photo.
Tripod would have been off the ice and in her den from fall until this February or March, when her and her newborn cub would have ventured back out onto the ice to hunt seals. It was obvious from the condition of both her and her cub, that she had been successful on her hunts. She’ll now face more challenges, including protecting her cub from both wolves and other male polar bears.
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She has already proven she’s a fighter and a survivor, but how will a three-legged polar bear be able to defend her cub against much larger males.
“The same way a four-legged bear would, with a lot of enthusiasm,” said Plett, who primarily works with film crews at the Churchill Wild lodges now. “Even if the female is a half or even a third the male’s size, if she’s aggressive enough, the male will back off. If she’s got enough zip in her, that goes a long way.”
Tripod and her cub at Seal River Heritage Lodge in late June 2025. Quent Plett photo.
Based on Tripod’s history and her ability to overcome impossible odds, she would seem to have a better chance than most of surviving, thriving, and protecting her cub. And then, what would the cub’s name be?
You already know.
Birds, Bears & Belugas at Seal River Heritage Lodge
