The polar bear in Longyearbyen (see previous posts) is not in Longyearbyen anymore. Today (Thursday, 16 October) at 12.45 hours, it was sedated and then flown out to a remote part of Svalbard. Before the polar bear actually fell asleep, it still walked for about 3 kilometres from the shore of Adventfjord, where it had been lying for a while, to the old northern light observatory (at the old runway) in Adventdalen. After the usual weighing, measuring and marking, it was flown northwards.
The Sysselmannen wants to get it as far away as possible, preferably to another island rather than the main island Spitsbergen. The exact place will, however, depend on the weather during the flight. The initially northerly direction may, however, point to Nordaustland as a possible new home for the bear. If it becomes similarly faithful to a smaller area there as he did near Longyearben, is something nobody can currently know, probably including the polar bear itself.
A larger number of people used the opportunity to get a glimpse of the bear in a distance of about 540 metres. For some, it was the first time to see a polar bear in the wild.
Approximate position of the polar bear near Longyearbyen when it was sedated (red dot). Image base: Google Earth.
Yesterday (Wednesday, 15 October) a polar bear visited Longyearbyen (see yesterday’s post here). The bear was finally driven away by the Sysselmannen (police), who followed it several kilometres by helicopter to make sure it would return directly.
But it did. Now, the polar bear is somewhere on the sea shore of Adventfjord adjacent to Adventdalen, close to Longyearbyen. Together with the Norwegian Polar Institute, the Sysselmannen is now preparing an attempt to sedate the polar bear and then fly out out to a remote location in the Spitsbergen archipelago.
The Sysselmannen asks everybody to stay away from there area until this has been done.
The polar bear is approximately in the area marked red near Longyearbyen. Image base: Google Earth.