Freddy Gamble is one of the few people remaining who was part of the discussion that led to the founding of Polar Bears International (PBI) — a conversation that took place on a Tundra Buggy®, with polar bears outside. While she was already a passionate fan of polar bears and the Arctic ecosystem, the experience sparked Gamble’s decades-long involvement with PBI and polar bear conservation.
The story began nearly 40 years ago when Gamble’s mother, who shared her love of nature and wildlife, urged her to travel north to Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, to see polar bears on the shores of Hudson Bay.
“She knew the experience would stir my soul, and so, on an extremely cold November day in the mid-1980s, I saw my first polar bear — and I was hooked,” Gamble recalls.
Riveted by the experience, Gamble returned to Churchill time and again as part of a group led by photographer Dan Guravich, sometimes joined by her mother, who traveled to wild places well into her eighties. During one of those trips, as the group watched the bears from a Tundra Buggy, Guravich broached the subject of founding a nonprofit focused on polar bears and their sea ice home. “Polar bears need a voice, someone to speak up for them,” he said. “There are organizations for elephants and pandas — why isn’t there anything for polar bears?”
The growing concern that Gamble felt for polar bears led her to embrace the idea, along with others on the buggy. And so the organization now known as Polar Bears International was born. “Today it is a global force in polar bear and Arctic conservation,” Gamble says, “with a lean, focused, whip-smart team.”
When PBI was founded, Gamble was tapped as a board member. She held the position for more than 30 years before becoming a board advisor. And because she remains so committed to polar bear conservation, she has included a bequest for PBI in her estate, making her part of a passionate group of Arctic Circle Legacy Society members.
“I support the work of Polar Bears International because I care about polar bears, and I’m convinced that PBI’s science-based, collaborative approach is the right formula for success,” she says. “Polar bears face a daunting challenge, and the planet faces a daunting challenge, but quitting is not an option. If you care, you have got to be involved.”
Gamble says that her mother’s love of nature and wild places was one of her greatest gifts to her, a gift guided by her mother’s generous spirit and belief in conservation. Carrying on that legacy through a commitment to the bears and to PBI is important to Gamble, now and in the future.
“How can we imagine a world without polar bears for our children and grandchildren?” she asks. “I can’t, and I won’t — and that’s why I’m so passionate in my support of PBI’s work.”