Polar bear kills last villager

Sydney Morning Herald ^ | 10.16.03

[mhking]

A polar bear has killed the last villager on Russia's Vrangel island off the northern Chukotka peninsula, scientists at a local reserve said today.

The reserve's workers attempted to save Vasilina Alpaun, who was attacked on her own doorstep, but were too late.

The Ushakovskoye village had been abandoned since 1997, when its inhabitants were moved to the peninsula to make way for the bear reserve, but Alpaun, 25, returned to her old home shortly afterwards.

Bears roam free on the island and are rarely aggressive, the reserve's director Leonid Bove said, adding that the woman most likely provoked the animal.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

"Lord, I'm coming home" would also be a good one

[Darksheare]

That poor bear, indigestion and intestinal distress for a week!
It made yu think of us because we're twisted and demeneted?
Kinda like the article about the human heart found on the highway exit ramp?
And my response to that was: "She stole my heart forevermore. But that's okay, I still have four!"?

[Darksheare]

Alas poor Timothy Treadwell and the bear on him that fed well...

[Darksheare]

Alamo Girl, more Clinton Legacy here at posts 88 and 89 if you don't have it already.
If you do have it already, please disregard.

Hedge, thanks for putting this up.

[OESY]

The bear was probably just exacting revenge for the abuse they have all suffered at the hands of John West, the salmon thief. No bear, polar or other shade, likes to be punched in the stomach, or kicked in the groin while being tricked into looking for an eagle. Adding insult to injury, West eluded the bear's kung fu kicks before stealing off. Very provocative!

Click for John West download

[rabidralph]

It's her fault for dressing so provocatively.

[OESY]

BTW, the download takes a little time, but is DEFINITELY worth it. You get four bear commercials for the price (and download time) of one, plus comparisons and comments.

[Shooter 2.5]

I know a lady who was reading the warning booklet on bears when one entered their camp. She hightailed it away so she would be safe. From a distance she could see the bear finishing off her breakfast.

She found the booklet still on the page with the bear warnings with a paw print stain.

She still has the booklet.

[ZULU]

"...the reserve's director Leonid Bove said, adding that the woman most likely provoked the animal."

Hmmmm. And I thought only American liberals had that kind of mental virus.

[ZULU]

Of all species of bears, the polar bear is the most carnivorous, the most aggressive, and the one most likely to view humans as just another protein source.

[HenryLeeII]

If an island becomes a bear reserve... stay away

Or, to put it another way: What part of DUH did she not understand?

[HenryLeeII]

What did she do, give it the middle finger?

I think she cut him off in traffic and then he followed her to her home.

[HenryLeeII]

Wrangel Island is off the north coast of Siberia, very far east--further east than some of the Aleutian Islands. I saw a program once about pygmy mammoths that survived there long after mammoths had become extinct elsewhere. I don't know if polar bears had anything to do with their demise.

Yes, as a matter of fact I saw a Bill Moyers special on PBS, and he showed how the polar bears developed industry on the island and became dependent on internal combustion engine vehicles, and the resulting global warming effect killed off the pygmy mammoths...

[HenryLeeII]

I know a lady who was reading the warning booklet on bears when one entered their camp. She hightailed it away so she would be safe. From a distance she could see the bear finishing off her breakfast. She found the booklet still on the page with the bear warnings with a paw print stain. She still has the booklet.'

Yes, but the bears unfortunately now know the inside scoop on what we know about them and our defense tactics. They will be much sneakier now, thanks to your friend's carelessness with the manual...:>)

[albee]

"...Well now she knows. You don't poke the bear!"

"...you don't spit into the wind
you don't tug on Superman's cape
you don't flip off a Polar Bear
and you don't mess around with Jim"

Apologies to Jim Croce

[TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa]

Don't believe it. It is a cover up by the KGP or whatever they're called now. It will be a ICBM site before it will be a wildlife refuge.

[TomHarkinIsNotFromIowa]

News from Russia
An unusually large number of polar bears congregated on Wrangel Island last fall, with up to sixty bears at a time gathered on the spit known as Cape Blossom. "The sea ice disappeared in September and remained ice-free well into November," reports Dr. Nikita Ovsyanikov. "This led to an exciting adventure season, with interesting behavioral material."

Ovsyanikov adds that the fall was also unusual for the large proportion of male bears and a marked reduction in the walrus population. In past years, walruses counts in the nature reserve have reached into the thousands, with 60,000 recorded in 1990--and 10,000 hauled out on the beach at any one time.

"By the beginning of September, I observed only about 300 walruses near the spit, which was the largest number for the entire season," he says. "Later, there were only several dozen for a very short time, and no hauling out activity. Apparently the main herd passed the island farther out at sea."

Because the stranded bears found no walruses on which to feed, Ovsyanikov reports that they spent a great deal of time just wandering around. "They were not focused on the walrus rookery, they were spread around and actively looking for anything edible," he says. "Due to that I had a number of bears approaching the cabin and the camp."

In other news, Ovsyanikov has been working with mainland officials in Chukotka on a program to minimize human-bear conflicts. And he and Reserve Director Leonid Bove have completed a proposal to expand the protection granted to polar bears in the Wrangel Island Nature Reserve to include the coastal mainland.

PBI has supported polar bear research on Wrangel Island since 1995.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thank y'all for the heads up! And thank you for the informaiton, HedgeTrimmer! Jeepers...

[Darksheare]

Welcome.
Again, thanks hedge.

[RiflemanSharpe]

"...the woman most likely provoked the animal."
What did she do, give it the middle finger?


Sounds like the bear took the whole arm.