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A bear of an all-nighter: Trio of polar bears return to town Sunday, officials ‘chase them as far as possible’

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OK, this time they’ve really been chased far enough away from town to keep them from returning.

Or so say/hope officials working for The Governor of Svalbard who spent all of Sunday night chasing a mother polar bear and her two cubs from dog kennels at the edge of Longyearbyen all the way to Van Mijenfjorden. The coast of the fjord south of town is perhaps 40 kilometers away as the crow flies – but a lot longer for bears, snowmobiles and others navigating the highly mountainous terrain.

A helicopter and two snowmobiles were used to chase the animals, with a polar bear expert from the Norwegian Polar Institute telling the governor’s office the animals should not be pushed too hard.

“The whole night was spent escorting these three away from Longyearbyen,” Police Chief Lt. Arve Johnsen told Svalbardposten. “They went at their own pace and took breaks along the way.”

The bears have been spotted numerous times in the vicinity of Longyearbyen during the past ten days. The initial observations of footprints and the animals themselves were at a cabin about 25 miles east of Longyearbyen on Jan. 13, and then near Mine 7 and other areas about 10 kilometers of east of town during the next couple of days. Police with the governor’s office chased the bears away three times during the initial encounters, although poor weather prevented the use of a helicopter during the final effort during the night of Jan. 16.

But the bears persisted and entered the city limits of Longyearbyen early the following morning, with one resident spotting them near the dog kennels and then in a residential area on Vei 238 at about 5:30 a.m. The animals then wandered toward The University Centre in Svalbard before departing town on their own.

The governor urged people to notify officials about any possible sightings and on Saturday afternoon three tourists reported seeing two polar bears in Adventdalen, according to Svalbardposten. Police responding to the scene determined the animals were reindeer, a mistake Johnsen called understandable in the darkness of polar night.

 

A day later, the trio of bears was again seen for real near the dog kennels heading in the direction of the main part of town. Researchers and residents have stated it is likely the bears are seeking food since they are well away from traditional hunting areas.

About Post Author

Mark Sabbatini

I'm a professional transient living on a tiny Norwegian island next door to the North Pole, where once a week (or thereabouts) I pollute our extreme and pristine environment with paper fishwrappers decorated with seemingly random letters that would cause a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to die of humiliation. Such is the wisdom one acquires after more than 25 years in the world's second-least-respected occupation, much of it roaming the seven continents in search of jazz, unrecognizable street food and escorts I f****d with by insisting they give me the platonic tours of their cities promised in their ads. But it turns out this tiny group of islands known as Svalbard is my True Love and, generous contributions from you willing, I'll keep littering until they dig my body out when my climate-change-deformed apartment collapses or they exile my penniless ass because I'm not even worthy of washing your dirty dishes.
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