AK: Polar Bear Kills Two People in Remote Alaska Village

[appalachiablue]

- 'Polar bear kills two in remote Alaska village,' The Guardian, AP in Wales, Alaska, Jan. 18, 2023.

- Bear was shot and killed by local residents of predominantly Indigenous community after chasing multiple people. -

A polar bear attacked and killed two people in a remote village in western Alaska, according to state troopers. Alaska state troopers said they received the report of the attack at 2.30pm on Tuesday in Wales, on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula, KTUU reported.

“Initial reports indicate that a polar bear entered the community and had chased multiple residents,” troopers wrote. “The bear fatally attacked an adult female and juvenile male.” The bear was shot and killed by a local resident, troopers said. The names of the the two people killed were not released. Troopers said they were working to notify family members.

Troopers and the state department of fish and game were planning to travel to Wales once weather allowed, the dispatch said. Wales is a small, predominantly Inupiaq town of about 150 people, just over 100 miles north-west of Nome. Fatal polar bear attacks have been rare in Alaska’s recent history.

In 1990, a bear killed a man farther north of Wales in the village of Point Lay. Biologists said the animal showed signs of starvation, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Alaska scientists at the US Geological Survey in 2019 found changes in sea ice habitat had coincided with evidence that polar bears’ use of land was increasing and that the chances of a polar bear encounter had increased. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/18/polar-bear-kills-two-remote-alaska-village
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- Also: 'Polar Bear Fatally Mauls Woman & Boy in Northwest Alaska,' Anchorage Daily News, Jan.17, 2023,

.. Fatal polar bear attacks are extremely rare in Alaska. In 1990, a polar bear killed a man in the North Slope village of Point Lay. Biologists later said the animal showed signs of starvation. In 1993, a polar bear burst through a window of an Air Force radar station on the North Slope, seriously mauling a 55-year-old mechanic. He survived the attack.

With the loss of sea ice and the ocean staying open later in the year, polar bears have been spending more time on land, which increases the chance of human encounters, said Joseph Jessup McDermott. He’s the executive director of the Alaska Nannut Co-Management Council, a tribally authorized organization consisting of the 15 Alaska tribes, including Wales, that have traditionally harvested polar bears for subsistence.

“Over the past few decades, it’s been very, very rare for those types of attacks to occur,” McDermott said. “It’s incredibly tragic it happened.” While McDermott said the Chukchi Sea polar bear population is healthy, there were accounts of polar bears in Northwest Alaska seeking alternative food sources such as trash. About 10 years ago, residents as far inland as Noatak reported spotting animals, he said. “While rare instances like a bear showing up in Noatak have occurred in recent years,” McDermott said, “the presence of bears around communities like Wales is a normal and regular occurrence.”

[From 2017: As sea ice gets scarcer, polar bear attacks on people become more frequent]

Some communities in Alaska — for example, several on the North Slope — have had polar bear patrols to keep residents safe. That’s not currently the case in Wales. “Wales does not currently have an active Polar Bear Patrol Program due to lack of government funding, unlike the North Slope,” McDermott said, “but this is something that ANCC has sought to pursue with other (nongovernmental organizations).”...https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2023/01/17/polar-bear-fatally-mauls-woman-and-boy-in-northwest-alaska/