A polar bear has been killed after it injured a French woman at a campsite on the Svalbard Archipelago north of Norway. The bear entered a tent before wounding the victim's arm.
Polar bears have been known to attack and even kill peopleImage: R. de Haas/AGAMI/blickwinkel/picture alliance
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A polar bear attacked a woman at a campsite on Monday in Norway's remote Arctic Svalbard Islands, injuring a French tourist, the regional governor said.
Authorities also said the wounds incurred in the incident were not life-threatening. The bear was later killed.
The woman was part of a tour group of 25 people camping at Sveasletta, in the central part of the Svalbard archipelago. It lies more than 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of the Norwegian mainland.
When news of the attack broke, authorities rushed to the scene by helicopter, chief superintendent Stein Olav Bredli said.
Arm injuries
"The French woman suffered injuries to an arm. Shots were fired at the polar bear, which was scared away from the area,'' he said.
The woman was subsequently flown by helicopter to the hospital in Longyearbyen, the largest settlement on Svalbard archipelago.
The main newspaper on the Arctic archipelago, Svalbardposten, said the victim was a woman in her 40s. The newspaper quoted a local hospital official as saying that the woman had been slightly hurt in the incident.
The animal, meanwhile, emerged badly injured and following a professional assessment it was euthanized. It was unclear exactly how the killing of the bear was administered.
Scientists watch Arctic polar bears to track climate change
Russian scientists are on a research expedition to assess the effects of climate change on Arctic wildlife. A particular focus is on polar bears, who are among the animals most vulnerable to global warming.
Image: Gavriil Grigorov/Tass/picture alliance
Sleepy research participant
This polar bear is participating in the research — although not quite voluntarily. Scientists had to anesthetize the animal first. A Russian study is currently in its main stage to measure the effects of climate change on Arctic wildlife. Polar bears are a focal point of the project.
Image: Gavriil Grigorov/Tass/picture alliance
In close contact
The project aims to keep an eye on the health and behavior of the polar bears, and find out more about how they are reacting to the changes in their habitat — changes largely linked to the climate.
Image: Gavriil Grigorov/Tass/picture alliance
The poster child of climate change
The Arctic is warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet. This has gravely afflicted the area's wildlife. Despite being the land’s largest predators, polar bears are one of the most vulnerable species to climate change.
Image: Gavriil Grigorov/Tass/picture alliance
No ice, no hunt
Polar bears rely on the sea ice around the Arctic Ocean to hunt for seals and fish. As sea ice shrinks, the apex carnivore is forced to swim for long distances or roam the shore to find food. Paleontologists say that polar bears have maintained their diet for centuries, even during the last period of Arctic warming that occured 1000 years ago.
Image: picture-alliance/Arco Images/H. Schouten
Going after eggs
The bear's diet maintains the balance between seals and fish poplulation, but this is changing. A recent study at the Canadian University of Windsor revealed that the hungry predator has increasingly resorted to foraging for seabird eggs. This, in turn, can eventually trigger a chain of damages to the environment that starts with endangering the seabird species.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Greenpeace
Exploring the polar bears' favorite hunting habitat
To better understand the impact of climate change on polar bears and how to mitigate its damages, scientists joined the UMKA2021 expedition. It takes place in Russia's Franz Josef Land, an archipelago of almost 200 islands joined together via sea ice, the polar bears' hunting grounds.
Image: Gavriil Grigorov/Tass/picture alliance
Measuring vital signs
After capturing the bears, scientists measure and record factors such as their weight, reserve body fat and blood pressure. This helps them find out more about their diet and energy consumption.
Image: Gavriil Grigorov/Tass/picture alliance
GPS messages
The bears are then released with GPS tags on their ears that send regular messages to the researchers containing information about their health. Scientists receive the messages in form of emails everyday, The tags also make it possible to track the bears with helicopters and drones.
Image: Gavriil Grigorov/Tass/picture alliance
Gone by 2100?
The scientists believe that closely tracking the polar bears could help prevent their extinction. The bear's number is rapidly decreasing and several studies project that they could vanish by the end of the century unless more is done to slow climate change.
Image: picture-alliance/blickwinkel/McPHOTO
No texts from the bears
Every time a polar bear dies, its GPS tag stops sending messages. The scientists will no longer receive news from the animal. Only one bear off the mailing list it may be, but for the planet's biodiversity, the decline in the population of this Arctic predator is much more alarming.
Image: Gavriil Grigorov/Tass/picture alliance
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Polar bears more aggressive than they seem
Incidents with the bears, though rare, do occur from time to time in the region.
Between 2009 and 2019, 14 polar bears were shot, according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK, from the roughly 20,000-25,000 polar bears that inhabit the Arctic.
Polar bears can be aggressive animals and have been known to attack and even kill people. When food is scarce, polar bears have been witnessed hunting for humans as prey.
In 2015, a polar bear dragged a Czech tourist out of his tent as he and others were camping north of Longyearbyen, on Svalbard archipelago, clawing his back before being driven away by gunshots. The bear was later tracked down and killed by authorities.
