Rare attack in Alaska renews interest in polar bear patrols

Alaska Fatal Polar Bear Attack

“There’s absolutely discussion now in Wales, saying, ‘Hey, maybe things have changed to the point that we need this, and how do we do that?’” said Susan Nedza, the chief administrator for the Bering Strait School District., forcing the bears to spend more time on land, the number of encounters between people and bears is on the rise, researchers say. Raising awareness and improving ways to keep both bears and people safe has become imperative.

Another successful model is among the coastal communities of the North Slope, where Alaska meets the Arctic Ocean; there tribes have traditionally hunted the bears, along with whales and seals. It's not uncommon to see dozens of bears on the outskirts of some of those villages, depending on the time of year and ice conditions.

In Kaktovik in 2014, a patroller shooed away a polar bear that had gotten into the entryway of an 81-year-old woman’s home, where it was feeding on a drum of seal oil. The woman had hidden inside and was unharmed.

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Rare attack in Alaska renews interest in polar bear patrolsANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — For isolated communities at the top of the world, keeping the planet’s largest land predators -- polar bears -- out of town is key to coexistence. That can mean patrolling for the animals by snowmobile or four-wheeler, shooing them away with spotlights or a revved engine, or hazing them with beanbag shotguns. A polar bear attack that killed a mother and her 1-year-old son in far western Alaska this week has underscored the risks of living alongside the world's largest land carnivores. What, exactly, would these polar bears patrol? How about not encroaching on what little habitat they have left. Let's try that for once.
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