Photo Contest Winner Announced!

All of the participants in the NAVC Polar Bear Expedition, October 29-November 4, 2009 were eligible to enter this contest. The photo opportunities, like the expedition, were once-in-a-lifetime, and the submissions were all impressive and sometimes even inspiring. As such, our judges had difficulty picking a winner but decided on an image that captured the quiet, solitary beauty of the windswept tundra.

This photograph of a polar bear at sunset (above) has earned Dr. Rick Beldegreen the first prize spot in our Polar Bear Expedition photo contest. You will be able to view a larger image of the winning photo, as well as those images from the trip that received an Honorable Mention in the January issue of Clinician’s Brief. Plus, we’ll be adding all of the submissions we received from our travelers over the next few months to our website. Check back often to see additional photographs from the NAVC trip to the Arctic in our online gallery.

About the Photo
Dr. Beldegreen shot this prize-winning image while riding in a tundra buggy in the Hudson Bay region of Manitoba, Canada. Trip director Carol Walton told Dr. Beldegreen that previous expeditions to the Arctic have never been lucky enough to view a polar bear during sunset—so he took this opportune moment and captured it on film. His favorite memories from the recent trip include the capture and release of polar bears from “jail” and a fascinating CE presentation by Dr. Mader. Dr. Mader's lecture covered Arctic amphibians who have adapted to surviving in such a harsh climate by freezing solid during the winter months and then thawing out during warmer weather.

About the Photographer
Since 1987 Dr. Beldegreen has owned and operated the Stoney Creek Animal Hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Beldegreen employs 4 other doctors at Stoney Creek, which allows him the freedom to escape on exciting NAVC Expeditions and other veterinary trips from time to time. In addition to attending the NAVC Antarctic and Polar Bear Expeditions, Dr. Beldegreen also plans to attend the NAVC Galapagos Expedition in the summer of 2010. In addition, he has also traveled to Panama with World Vets to volunteer his time as part of a spay/neuter program. As the winner of the Polar Bear photo contest, Dr. Beldegreen will receive free registration to the NAVC conference in January. At the conference, he’s most looking forward to reconnecting with colleagues he hasn’t seen in some time and attending practical lectures that he can utilize information from in his North Carolina practice.