Polar bear back in Lon­gye­ar­by­en

The polar bear that had been in Lon­gye­ar­by­en on Thurs­day morning was back back ear­ly Satur­day. On Thurs­day, it was pushed out of the sett­le­ment by the Sys­sel­man­nen with the heli­co­p­ter to the south and towards Farda­len and Cole­s­da­len.

Also this time, the Sys­sel­mann was soon aler­ted and out with avail­ab­le for­ces. Again, the heli­co­p­ter was used to sca­re it away to the south. This time, the plan was to push it as far south as Van Mijen­fjord, 40 km south of Lon­gye­ar­by­en as the crow flies.

Polar bear in Lon­gye­ar­by­en (Thurs­day morning). Pho­to © Sys­sel­man­nen på Sval­bard.

Also this distance, from Van Mijen­fjord to Lon­gye­ar­by­en, is not much of an obsta­cle for a polar bear in case he (she?) deci­des to return. The Sys­sel­mannn asks the public to remain alert, espe­cial­ly during late night and ear­ly morning hours (it is dark now 24 hours any­way, but the­re is litt­le traf­fic at tho­se times) and to stay insi­de in case a bear is seen in the area.

It was con­si­de­red to ana­es­the­ti­ze the bear and to fly it away to an island more remo­te wit­hin Sval­bard such as Nord­aus­t­land, but accord­ing to an offi­cial state­ment, the capa­ci­ties for such an ope­ra­ti­on are cur­r­ent­ly not avail­ab­le in Lon­gye­ar­by­en due to the Christ­mas holi­days.