Again, a polar bear showed up in the Longyearbyen area. The bear was seen yesterday (Thursday, 30 January) at Hotellneset, close to the airport.
An anaesthetised polar bear during preparations for the flight to Kinnvika (archive image, 2016).
The Sysselmannen pushed the bear with the helicopter across Adventfjord to Hiorthhamn. Later, the bear was anaesthetised and flown out to Kinnvika on Nordaustland, about 200 km as the crow flies to the north. It is unlikely that this bear will return to Longyearbyen at any time soon, although this kind of distance and terrain are not an insurmountable obstacle for a polar bear. But chances that the bear has the orientation and motivation to set course for Longyearbyen now are low.
The last case when a bear was anaesthetised near Longyearbyen and flown out, also to Kinnvika, was in April 2016. This bear returned to Longyearbyen in late December 2019 and was shot in the early morning hours of New Year’s Day 2020.
Polar bear experts of the Norwegian Polar Institute were present during the whole operation, as the Sysselmannen informed on Facebook.
This and other publishing products of the Spitsbergen publishing house in the Spitsbergen-Shop.
Norwegens arktischer Norden (1): Spitzbergen
Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German. [shop url="https://shop.spitzbergen.de/en/polar-books/70-norwegens-arktischer-norden-1-aerial-arctic-9783937903262.html"] ← Back
Lofoten, Jan Mayen and Spitsbergen from the air - Photobook: Norway's arctic islands. The text in this book is German, but there is very little text, so I am sure that you will enjoy it regardless which languages you read (or not).
The companion book for the Svalbardhytter poster. The poster visualises the diversity of Spitsbergen‘s huts and their stories in a range of Arctic landscapes. The book tells the stories of the huts in three languages.
Comprehensive guidebook about Spitsbergen. Background (wildlife, plants, geology, history etc.), practical information including travelling seasons, how to travel, description of settlements, routes and regions.
Join an exciting journey with dog, skis and tent through the wintery wastes of East Greenland! We were five guys and a dog when we started in Ittoqqortoormiit, the northernmost one of two settlements on Greenland’s east coast.
12 postcards which come in a beautifully designed tray. Beautiful images from South Georgia across Antarctica from the Antarctic Peninsula to the Ross Sea and up to Macquarie Island and Campbell Island.