Press "Enter" to skip to content

BE NOT THAT AFRAID: Yes, a polar bear (or two) is lurking near town Saturday – but that’s NOT why this helicopter is rattling roofs

0 0
Read Time:1 Minute, 21 Second

Locals missed out on dozens of dogs yelping, but there were a few cases of the yipes at noon Saturday as residents wondering if a polar bear lurking near town was the reason a rescue helicopter was perched on the ridge of Sukkartoppen a short distance above homes.

Short answer: no. Somewhat longer answer: Click the blue box below.

Polar bear sighting were reported during the morning at Bjørndalselva, Bjørndalen and Mälardalen – adding to sightings near Longyearbyen during the past several days that have resulted in the cancellation of field research and other activities. – as well as Kapp Lin and Barentsburg. The reports near Longyearbyen resulted in the cancellation of an open day at the kennels near the edge of town scheduled from noon to 3 p.m., but when one of The Governor of Svalbard’s rescue  helicopters landed on the ridge halfway up the mountain rising above the downtown homes a statement was quickly necessary to clarify it wasn’t due to that particular threat from nature.

“The helicopter activity over Longyearbyen now is not because of the polar bear, but work in connection with the avalanche protection on Sukkertoppen,” the governor’s announcement stated.

Other updates were posted by the governor’s office during the day, including the somewhat obvious observation that multiple bears are in the areas where the sightings have been reported (which are spaced out in a stretch of more than 60 kilometers between Barentsburg to the mountains across the bay from Longyearbyen). In addition to disrupting field research near Longyearbyen, bear encounters have included one that damaged boats at Fredheim last Friday and invaded cabins at Vindodden last weekend.

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.
Happy
Happy
0 %
Sad
Sad
0 %
Excited
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
Angry
0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 %

Average Rating

5 Star
0%
4 Star
0%
3 Star
0%
2 Star
0%
1 Star
0%