Deadly Attack In Alaska Triggers Renewed Interest In Polar Bear Patrols

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — For remoted communities on the prime of the world, maintaining the planet’s largest land predators ― polar bears ― out of city is vital to coexistence.

That may imply patrolling for the animals by snowmobile or four-wheeler, shooing them away with spotlights or a revved engine, or hazing them with beanbag shotguns. In a single Canadian city, polar bears that may’t be scared off are saved in an air-conditioned “bear jail” till they are often flown out onto the ocean ice. Such bear patrols have lengthy succeeded in lowering battle.

However this week, a polar bear assault killed a mom and her 1-year-old son in Wales, a tiny, distant Alaska whaling village whose bear patrol had lapsed. The incident — the primary deadly polar bear assault in Alaska in 30 years — underscored the dangers of dwelling alongside the creatures, which might weigh greater than 1,700 kilos (771 kg).

Whereas it’s not clear why the bear attacked, and whereas no patrol can stop all troublesome encounters between bears and other people, the mauling has renewed curiosity in such packages.

“There’s completely dialogue now in Wales, saying, ‘Hey, perhaps issues have modified to the purpose that we’d like this, and the way can we try this?’” stated Susan Nedza, the chief administrator for the Bering Strait College District.

Polar bear assaults are extraordinarily uncommon. However as local weather change reduces the quantity of Arctic ice, forcing the bears to spend extra time on land, the variety of encounters between individuals and bears is on the rise, researchers say. Elevating consciousness and bettering methods to maintain each bears and other people protected has turn into crucial.

In northeastern Russia, patrollers have planted walrus carcasses removed from villages to lure the bears away. The patrols have been elevated in 2019 when about 60 polar bears descended on Ryrkaypiy in Russia’s distant Chukotka area, forcing the cancellation of all public occasions.

In Arviat, a hamlet on the Hudson Bay in northern Canada, a bear patrol program was credited with dramatically lowering the variety of bears killed in protection of life or property, from about eight per 12 months earlier than it started in 2010 to 1 per 12 months afterward.

One other Hudson Bay city — Churchill, in northeastern Manitoba — has had a bear alert program for many years and has turned the animals right into a vacationer attraction. There, wildlife brokers and police patrol by helicopter and by floor to guard trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Downside bears are captured and saved in an air-conditioned “bear jail” till the ice freezes up and they are often transported out to the place they will discover pure prey reminiscent of seals.

One other profitable mannequin is among the many coastal communities of the North Slope, the place Alaska meets the Arctic Ocean; tribes there have historically hunted the bears, together with whales and seals. It’s not unusual to see dozens of bears on the outskirts of a few of these villages, relying on the time of 12 months and ice situations.

Within the early Nineties, scores of polar bears massed on the shore of Utqiagvik, previously referred to as Barrow, the northernmost group within the U.S. The village elders gathered: The college 12 months was approaching, and one thing needed to be completed.

On their recommendation, the city put collectively patrols to attempt to maintain the polar bears out.

“We went on shifts, we used no matter we might use, a snow machine or a truck,” recalled Billy Adams, an worker of the North Slope Borough Division of Wildlife Administration who nonetheless typically patrols for bears. “It’s all about maintaining the individuals and the bears protected.”

The objective is to maintain an eye fixed out for bears, reply to reported sightings, and shoo them away as gently as attainable. Typically which means simply revving the engine of a snowmobile, truck or four-wheeler, or shining a highlight at them; different occasions it could escalate to the usage of beanbags or “cracker shells,” like firecrackers fired from a shotgun, to harass the bears, stated Taqulik Hepa, director of the North Slope Borough Division of Wildlife Administration in Alaska.

The North Slope has patrols on standby in case bears come shut; three villages have energetic patrols now, Hepa stated.

In Kaktovik in 2014, a patroller shooed away a polar bear that had gotten into the entryway of an 81-year-old girl’s dwelling, the place it was feeding on a drum of seal oil. The girl had hidden inside and was unhurt.

The North Slope Borough doesn’t preserve a price range for this system, however helps it by offering gas or tools. When obtainable, grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assist offset the prices, which might embrace pay for patrollers.

Polar bears seem much less ceaselessly in Wales, a group that’s the westernmost level on the North American mainland — simply 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Russia throughout the Bering Strait. Wales is dwelling to about 150 individuals, virtually all of them Inupiat. It’s accessible by airplane and boat, together with barges that ship family items. Winter trails present snowmobile entry to different communities and subsistence searching grounds.

Wales started a polar bear patrol in 2014 with the assistance of the World Wildlife Fund, which has supported the creation of a number of such packages in far northern communities throughout the globe. However the native program grew to become inactive because of a confluence of things — together with the COVID-19 pandemic, the relative lack of bears and the latest demise of its chief, Clyde Oxereok.

The group additionally has fewer monetary assets than a few of its counterparts within the North Slope, the place the oil trade has buoyed the financial system.

Even when a patrol had been energetic, although, it’s not clear it might have prevented Tuesday’s assault. It occurred early within the afternoon — not usually a dangerous time for bear encounters — and got here amid a close to whiteout, with extraordinarily poor visibility.

Authorities investigating the mauling stated they intend “to study from this tragedy and decide what future measures we and our communities can take to stop future deadly human-bear encounters,” in response to a joint assertion launched Thursday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Alaska Division of Fish and Recreation and the Alaska Nannut Co-management Council, which represents 15 Alaska Native tribes which have historically hunted polar bears.

Chrissy Friberg, a touring optician from Washington state, spent a pair days in Wales simply earlier than the assault, holding a clinic for the villagers. She stated individuals didn’t appear overly involved in regards to the threat of bears.

“We have been exterior, strolling round,” she stated. “There have been no threats or warnings.”

Johnson reported from Seattle.