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POLAR BEAR IN DOWNTOWN LONGYEARBYEN: Bear spotted between Kroa and Svalbardbutikken on Thursday morning before officials chase it out of town

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Photo above and video below by Marie Lørup Stenshøj

A polar bear wandered through the central part of Longyearbyen on Thursday morning, leaving tracks along the main road and at popular locations such as Kroa, before The Governor of Svalbard deployed all of its resources to chase the animal south of town over Longyearbreen and out toward Colesdalen.

The bear was spotted shortly before 7 a.m. and as of 7:30 a.m. officials the bear “still was not fully under control.” It was chased away from settled areas using vehicles and a helicopter a short time after.

“We have no idea where it came from,” Police Chief Lt. Håkon Toresen told Svalbardposten. “It was a very calm polar bear.”

Because of the early hour and the Christmas holiday, the supermarket and virtually all other businesses were closed, and the streets and walkways largely empty – although the bear caused considerable anxiety among those who did need to go to work or otherwise venture out.

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Polar bear tracks leading away from a road near Huset at the southern edge of town, which is commonly used as a groomed ski trail during the winter, are observed late Thursday morning. Officials chased the based over a mountain beyond the road. Photo by Patrick Bossart.

“We remind people of the importance of alerting the governor as soon as they observe polar bears in or near Longyearbyen,” Gov. Kjerstin Askholt said in a prepared statement. “It is very important that we be notified as soon as possible so that we can control the situation. The incident today is also a reminder that we live in polar bear country, and we encourage people to be careful and take precautions.”

Although polar bears have been spotted near and at the edge of town several times in recent years, it has been many years since a bear has visited the central part. The last visit by a bear to a heavily occupied neighborhood occurred in January of 2017 when it roamed along homes at Vei 238, The University Centre in Svalbard and other locations at the northeast edge of town.

Several photos and videos of the bear that visited Thursday and its tracks were posted by residents and others on local social media pages. Marie Lørup Stenshøj, a local restaurant manager, posted an 80-second video of the bear on Facebook plodding along the main pedestrian walkway near Svalbardbutikken. Val K-Trojanowski posted a video of the bear beginning its trek out of town via the Lia neighborhood between Vei 226 and the pedestrian bridge near the outdoor ice rink.

Social media was also used by those in town wondering if it was safe to venture out.

“I have to go out and walk with the dog and then go to work, anyone know where the bear is now?” Frida Øverland, a Basecamp Explorer and Kroa employee, inquired in a comment at Stenshøj’s post at about 7 a.m.

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Tracks left by a visiting polar bear leave a deep imprint at Basecamp Explorer early Thursday morning. Photo by Frida Øverland.

Stenshøj, noting she just asked a guest to return from Basecamp Explorer’s tour office to the guest’s hotel, and others affirmed officials were still active in the area. Øoverland, in a post on her page about an hour later, noted “a bear has been on a city walk this morning and I’ve never run so fast to work. Have a nice 2. St Christmas day.”

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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