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Feast for the (distant) eyes: Polar bear eating whale carcass on beach near Longyearbyen; governor warns against approaching

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A polar bear seen eating a whale carcass at Deltaneset, just around the corner of the cape northwest of Longyearbyen, means hoards of summer tourists and others passing the area are getting a visual feast as well – but The Governor of Svalbard is warning against illegally approaching the bear as parties have done with other animals near town during the past month.

“The governor is referring to Section 30 of the Svalbard Environmental Protection Act, which states that it is forbidden to seek out polar bears so that they are disturbed, or there may be a danger to humans or polar bears,” a statement released at midday Friday noted. “The governor’s field inspectors are monitoring the situation.”

The beach area is easily visible from boats making day trips to Pyramiden and is a site where commercial fossil gathering tours are offered.

The warning comes after a boat tried to approach a polar bear resting on a beach across from Longyearbyen in early June, prompting the animal to swim toward town where a group was camping before officials chased it away, and an investigation into another incident a couple of weeks later involving a tour boat pursuing a bear with cubs.

 

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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