Attempting to dispose polar bears from cabin area on Svalbard

polar bear svalbardSPITSBERGEN. Svalbard. Polar bear. Photo : Håkon Mosvold Larsen / Scanpix

Governor from Svalbard using boats and helicopters to try to frighten a female polar bear and her young ones away from the cabin areas.

Polar bear mother and her cub was disposed from a cottage area in Foxdalen last weekend. Tuesday morning the bears again seen in the vicinity of buildings, this time outside Hiorthhamn and Revneset. The Governor then asked the people to evacuate this area.

Hiorthhamn is a former mining town that lies on the east side of Adventfjorden. Longyearbyen is on the other side of the fjord.

On Tuesday afternoon, it appears that intimidation has been successful. Polar bears are moving towards Diabas.

– We are afraid that they are going to start getting used to reside in and around the cabin areas. Together with the Norwegian Polar Institute, we have decided that we should give them an unpleasant experience of being close to the cabins, said the governor’s Kjerstin Askholt.

August 9, another polar bear shot on Prins Karls Forland in Svalbard as it approached the tent camp to a group of Russian scientists. This polar bear was a two years old female bear which was 155 kilograms.

Earlier in August a trapper has received a fine of 20,000 crowns for having shot a female polar bear on Austfjordnes on Svalbard in June. The shot was meant as a warning shot, but killed the bear.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today