Russia’s polar bear puzzle
When 52 polar bears paid a prolonged visit to a village in the Russian Arctic from December to February last winter, many residents became too scared to leave their homes, a state of emergency was declared and military patrols began. But widespread international media reports that this ‘invasion’ resulted from loss of sea ice linked to global warming were misleading, say regional commentators.
“This is an on-site, human-made problem,” expedition leader Mats Forsberg told The Barents Observer.
Belushya Guba, the main settlement on the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya, is beside a deep bay, has usually been free of extensive sea ice in the last 30 years. Yet this is the first time that the village, largely home to Russian military personnel and their families, has had a problem with wintering polar bears.
The likely cause, says a polar bear scientist, is that sea ice conditions last November allowed the bears to come ashore. Ice then temporarily retreated, stranding them, but then reached land again in January. By this time, the bears – looking well fed in photographs and used to both humans and to scavenging at local dumps – stayed ashore.
So although ice melt continues to be a major problem for polar bears, this winter visitation by so many could be linked to growing numbers of people and rubbish in the Arctic, and not lack of sea ice. Kenny Taylor
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The effects of human food on bears: bit.ly/freerangebears