While I am talking about good old Antigua: right now, she is in the shipyard. Cut into two parts. No iceberg and now underwater rock are the reason for this, but the owner’s plan to make her a bit longer. Half of the cabins will be a bit larger from 2016. But there won’t be more cabins and no more beds than so far, so not more people than we are used to, and that is important. And they say that a longer hull is making for better sailing abilities. I am looking forward to a renewed Antigua in 2016!
Meanwhile, the polar night has come over Svalbard. What should have been a peaceful and silent arctic winter brought disaster to Longyearbyen just before Christmas, when a snow avalanche went into a housing area, strongly damaging 11 buildings and killing two people. So the year 2015, which has brought war and terror to many countries, comes to a sad end also in Spitsbergen. Let’s hope that 2016 will bring as many great adventures as 2015, but less sad ones.
During the season of the short days, I am sorting the trips of the past, getting triplogs, videos and photo galleries ready, which I recommend to everybody who wants to leave their home or office mentally for a moment to take a virtual trip up north. New trips are being planned, with Antigua, with Arctica II, with Ópal (in 2017), with Aurora. To Spitsbergen, Greenland and Jan Mayen. A new focus on hiking, in early September. This all takes time for a lot of thinking and planning. 2015 has seen 166 news and blog entries on this website. Also new book projects are getting on. Several ones are in the making, some in a stag quite advanced. So I can promise new books, but I am not going to say anything about timing. I am not planning an airport, I am just writing books. Nobody is paying me for that. So I don’t have to promise anything and I don’t have to excuse anything in case it takes more time. That keeps life easy (kind of).
I wish all readers a good and happy new year! Great trips in high or low latitudes, health and happiness! Maybe our paths will cross, near the poles or somewhere in between. Under the midnight sun or the polar light.
I guess I have to warn you here: this is not for the faint-hearted. The story and a related video on youtube are disturbing.
There has been an extreme case of cruelty to a polar bear on Wrangel Island in the far eastern Russian arctic. A female polar bear accompanied by cubs had visited a construction site regularly. Appearently, she had become used to people, who fed her regularly. In November, a firecracker was mixed into the food and exploded in her mouth, heavily injuring the animal. A youtube video shows the bear moving around in great pain and losing blood. The firecracker is said to have been a military-type banger normally used for military education and training, containing 80 gram gunpowder.
The offender was the cook, who said later that it was an act of self defence, an attempt to divert the polar bear’s attention away from another nearby person. This is, however, unlikely to be true, according to local media, who report that the bear had been used to people and never showing aggressive behaviour. It is said that workers quite commonly photographed themselves together with this particular polar bear.
A video is circulating on youtube, showing how the polar bear is suffering from strong pain and bleeding severely. Information about the condition of the bear since is contradictory: there are statements that she is alive, but others say she has not been seen since.
Initially the offender seemed to get away with a symbolic fine, but since the case drew international attention on the web, politicians including Russian Environment Minister Sergej Donskoj and the governor of Chukotka have demanded investigations and a lawsuit. The Attorney General has taken up investigations, which may lead to imprisonment up to 3 or 7 years, depending on source.
The online petition does not contain disturbing images, but the above mentioned youtube video is tough stuff: cruel and disturbing. If you want to see it, then this is the link.
The offender was (is?) working for the company Русальянс (Russallians), which is contracted by the Russian Ministry of Defence. Officially, the company is supporting a foundation that is working for the arctic environment, including a “harmonic relationship between humans and animals”.