A woman and a young boy were killed in a polar bear attack in Alaska's Wales.
As their sea ice habitat melts as a result of climate change, polar bears are coming on land more often, US scientists have saidImage: Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press/AP Photo/picture alliance
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A polar bear mauled and killed a woman and a boy in a remote western Alaskan village, state troopers said on Tuesday.
While polar bear attacks are rare in Alaska, scientists in the northwestern US state have warned that chances of a polar bear encounter have risen as the bear's sea ice habitat is melting.
What happened?
The incident took place in Wales — located on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula — at 2:30 p.m. local time (2330 UTC), local broadcaster KTUU reported.
"Initial reports indicate that a polar bear had entered the community and had chased multiple residents," state troopers wrote in a dispatch on Tuesday.
"The bear fatally attacked an adult female and juvenile male — it was shot and killed by a local resident as it attacked the pair," the troopers said.
The names of the two people killed have not been released and the troopers are working to inform family members, the dispatch said.
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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Troopers and the state Department of Fish and Game are planning to travel to Wales "as weather conditions allow," the dispatch added.
The town where the attack took place is predominantly Inupiaq, with a population of 100.
Concerns over polar bear starvation
Fatal polar bear attacks have been a rarity in Alaska in recent times.
In 1990, a polar bear had killed a man in the village of Point Lay, further north of Wales.
Biologists had said later that the animal showed signs of starvation, according to an Anchorage Daily News report.
In 2019, scientists with the US Geological Survey found that drastic changes to the polar bear's sea ice habitat have prompted the animal to come on land more often.
As polar bears search for food on land to stave off starvation, the chance of encounters between the world's largest bears and humans has also increased.
