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A POLAR BEAR has attacked a campsite on Norway’s remote Arctic Svalbard Islands, injuring a French tourist, authorities said.
The woman, who was not identified, was part of a tour group of 25 people camping at Sveasletta, in the central part of the Svalbard archipelago, more than 500 miles north of the Norwegian mainland.
The campsite is across a fjord from Longyearbyen, the main settlement in the Svalbard archipelago.
Authorities responded to the news of the attack by flying out in a helicopter, according to chief superintendent Stein Olav Bredli.
“The French woman suffered injuries to an arm. Shots were fired at the polar bear, which was scared away from the area,” he said.
Authorities said the woman’s injuries were not life-threatening but further details were not disclosed. She was flown by helicopter to hospital in Longyearbyen.
The main newspaper on the Arctic archipelago, Svalbardposten, said the victim was a woman in her 40s, and quoted local hospital official Solveig Jacobsen as saying she was slightly injured.
Mr Bredil later told Svalbardposten that the animal had been “badly injured” and after “a professional assessment” it was put down. It was unclear how it was killed.
Svalbard is dotted with warnings about polar bears. Visitors who choose to sleep outdoors receive warnings from authorities that people must carry firearms.
At least five people have been killed by polar bears since the 1970s, most recently in 2020 when a 38-year-old Dutch man was killed.
After that attack, there was a debate on whether people should be allowed to camp in tents but no ban has been decided.
Some residents in Svalbard, home to more than 2,500 people, want a round-the-clock polar bear watch, while others advocate killing all bears that get close to humans.
From 2009 to 2019, 14 polar bears were shot, Norwegian broadcaster NRK said.
An estimated 20,000-25,000 polar bears live in the Arctic.
In 2015, a polar bear dragged a Czech tourist out of his tent as he and others were camping north of Longyearbyen, clawing his back before being driven away by gunshots.
The bear was later found and killed by authorities.
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Double whammy. Rainy days and Mondays always get me down! Bummer…
@William Tallon: Fliuch sake
@William Tallon: No weather for a carpenter to be outdoors.
Dirty rotten orange bast…
We need it after such a dry spell. Good for the grass and crops.
@Mark: can’t say we are short on water
The rain here in Limerick for the last hour has been biblical!
@FoxyBoiiYT: Doncha knoah it.
@FoxyBoiiYT: That’s Angela’s Ashes weather. It piddled through that movie.
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: I say that all the time! It’s Angela Ashes weather out there
@FoxyBoiiYT: Angela lashes
@CP: That’s extra
@FoxyBoiiYT: Divine punishment!
@FoxyBoiiYT: You’re always going on about how much of a kip Dublin is and you’re from limerick?
I wouldn’t worry unduly. There was a red alert in Tipperary at around a quarter past four yesterday but by five o clock the forecast had been downgraded to that of a gentle breeze.
Hang on we get rain every day what’s the difference. Orange yellow.red .
@k owens: different severities .
Good night now
@k owens: Every day?! Red, yellow, green. It’s a ‘traffic-light system’ used to categorise severities, rash management, decision-making, communication etc. Ask a family member or trusted adult for more information on this if required.
@Jack Hayes: all my family drowned in a flood . They were on Noah’s ark with yours.
@k owens: so they won’t be at croaker in two weeks for the football?
@Jack Hayes: it’s red,orange,yellow,green,blue,indigo,violet weather. All the colours of the rainbow weather. Pride,in the Name of Floods. What,more? In the name of floods
@Larry Betts: Primary colours:Red, Yellow and Blue. Orange between Red and Yellow. Green between Yellow and Blue and Violet (purple) between Blue and Red. Where did Indigo come from?? Who uses ‘indigo’? Newton put in Indigo to get 7 colours, the same as the 7 notes in the musical scale. Along with being a scientific and mathematical genius he was a bit of a nut-job and believed 7 was a mystical number. But the time has come……. let’s drop indigo!!
@Me Me: What about Ultra Violet?
God help us all
Landscapers wet dream
What did ye think of the summer?
@p gert: it was an Indian summer, gave a bit of sun and then took it back.!!!
@p gert: National hosepipe ban incoming
Is westmeath not beside
After two weeks good weather in may I sai it was our summer this year and nobody listens
@Mickstawowy: and the 32 degrees on two days just little more than a week ago?
Dunno why we’re not world leaders in coverings from the rain. We seem to prefer just being wet.
Nothing in Dublin to see @ 17.00.
have your say