Polar bears terrorizing settlement

MOSCOW — Dozens of polar bears have laid siege to a small military settlement deep in the Russian Arctic, leaving residents afraid to send their children to school or even open their front doors.

The settlement, Belushya Guba, on a finger of land stretching into the Arctic Ocean, has declared a state of emergency as the bears have attacked people, broken into homes, menaced schools and feasted at a local dump.

Video of polar bears that have come ashore, grunting and strolling through the 2,000-person settlement, suggest a dramatic symbol of climate change. But though the receding Arctic ice has been forcing more bears off their preferred terrain, it is unclear if the latest invasion is caused by the warming seas, scientists said.

Conservation authorities turned down a request from the settlement to shoot the bears, which are protected in Russia as an endangered species.

Belushya Guba is a restricted military zone with several small settlements adjacent to bases but no native inhabitants. That has left 52 bears free to cluster around Belushya Guba, according to the Arkhangelsk regional government. Since the bears started arriving in December, people have taken to staying at home.

“People are scared; they are afraid to leave their homes, daily routines are disrupted, and parents worry about sending their children to school,” the regional government statement’s said.

The settlement put up more fencing around schools and arranged for children to be driven to and from class.

An absence of sea ice around the southern portion of the Novaya Zemlya island chain has most likely forced more bears than usual onto shore, said Ilya N. Mordvintsev, a professor at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution and a Russian expert on polar bears. But he’s seeking more data.