According to information provided by local authorities, a French tourist was slightly injured when attacked by a polar bear occupying a camp in the Norwegian Arctic archipelago of Svalbard.
The woman was part of a 25-person expedition in tents to the west of the region, about 1,000 kilometers from the North Pole.
“At around 06:30 GMT (03:30 GMT) this morning, a bear entered a camp and injured a French woman in the arm,” local police chief Stein Olav Bredli told AFP. “Your life is not in danger,” he added.
The tourist was rescued by helicopter to the hospital in the archipelago’s main town, Longyearbyen.
“The polar bear, who was frightened and left the place, was shot at,” Bredli said.
The injured animal was later found by the authorities and was euthanized due to the size of its wounds.
A male bear can weigh between 300 and 600 kilograms, while a female bear weighs half that. Carrying a rifle is mandatory when leaving urban communities in Svalbard to be prepared for a final encounter with bears.
According to the 2015 census, about 1,000 polar bears live in the Norwegian region of the Arctic, a protected species since 1973.
About 300 people live in the archipelago during the year, and some have moved to the western part of the area, where there is also a concentration of people. They had disappeared from the area when hunting was still allowed.
Six deadly bear attacks have been recorded since 1971. The last time a 38-year-old Dutchman died was in 2020.
According to experts, melting glaciers due to global warming are depriving polar bears of their favorite hunting grounds where they feed on seals and bringing them closer to areas inhabited by people looking for food.
source: Noticias
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