Rare attack in Alaska renews interest in polar bear patrols

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — For remoted communities on the high of the world, preserving the planet’s largest land predators — polar bears — out of city is essential 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 stored in an air-conditioned “bear jail” till they are often flown out onto the ocean ice. Such bear patrols have lengthy succeeded in decreasing 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 residing 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 folks, the mauling has renewed curiosity in such applications.

“There’s completely dialogue now in Wales, saying, ‘Hey, possibly issues have modified to the purpose that we’d like this, and the way can we do this?’” mentioned Susan Nedza, the chief administrator for the Bering Strait Faculty 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 folks and bears is on the rise, researchers say. Elevating consciousness and bettering methods to maintain each bears and folks secure has grow to be crucial.

In northeastern Russia, patrollers have planted walrus carcasses removed from villages to lure the bears away. The patrols had 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 decreasing 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. Drawback bears are captured and stored in an air-conditioned “bear jail” till the ice freezes up and they are often transported out to the place they’ll discover pure prey similar to 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 circumstances.

Within the early Nineteen Nineties, scores of polar bears massed on the shore of Utqiagvik, previously often called Barrow, the northernmost neighborhood within the U.S. The village elders gathered: The varsity 12 months was approaching, and one thing needed to be executed.

On their recommendation, the city put collectively patrols to attempt to preserve 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 generally patrols for bears. “It’s all about preserving the folks and the bears secure.”

The purpose is to maintain an eye fixed out for bears, reply to reported sightings, and shoo them away as gently as potential. Typically which means simply revving the engine of a snowmobile, truck or four-wheeler, or shining a highlight at them; different instances it might probably escalate to the usage of beanbags or “cracker shells,” like firecrackers fired from a shotgun, to harass the bears, mentioned 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 mentioned.

In Kaktovik in 2014, a patroller shooed away a polar bear that had gotten into the entryway of an 81-year-old girl’s house, 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 keep a finances for this system, however helps it by offering gas or gear. 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 neighborhood that’s the westernmost level on the North American mainland — simply 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Russia throughout the Bering Strait. Wales is house to about 150 folks, virtually all of them Inupiat. It’s accessible by aircraft 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 applications in far northern communities throughout the globe. However the native program turned 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 neighborhood additionally has fewer monetary sources 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 sometimes a dangerous time for bear encounters — and got here amid a close to whiteout, with extraordinarily poor visibility.

Authorities investigating the mauling mentioned they intend “to study from this tragedy and decide what future measures we and our communities can take to forestall 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 mentioned folks didn’t appear overly involved in regards to the danger of bears.

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

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Johnson reported from Seattle.