Polar bear kills woman and boy in remote Alaska village

Wales, Alaska — A polar bear has attacked and killed two individuals in a distant village in western Alaska, in response to state troopers.

Alaska State Troopers mentioned they acquired the report of the assault at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in Wales, on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula, KTUU reported.

“Preliminary experiences point out {that a} polar bear had entered the neighborhood and had chased a number of residents,” troopers wrote. “The bear fatally attacked an grownup feminine and juvenile male.”

The bear was shot and killed by an area resident because it attacked the pair, troopers mentioned.

The names of the the 2 individuals killed weren’t launched. Troopers mentioned they have been working to inform members of the family.

Troopers and the state Division of Fish and Recreation are planning to journey to Wales as soon as climate permits for it, the dispatch mentioned.

Wales is a small, predominantly Inupiaq city of about 150 individuals, simply over 100 miles northwest of Nome.

Deadly polar bear assaults have been uncommon in Alaska’s latest historical past. In 1990, a polar bear killed a person farther north of Wales within the village of Level Lay. Biologists later mentioned the animal confirmed indicators of hunger, the Anchorage Day by day Information reported.

Alaska scientists on the U.S. Geological Survey in 2019 discovered adjustments in sea ice habitat had coincided with proof that polar bears’ use of land was rising and that the possibilities of a polar bear encounter had elevated.