A French guide was fined for "deficient polar bear safety measures" on Svalbard. The French can't do anything right.This is what not to do when you meet a polar bear. www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article821375.ece
Polar Bear Safety
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Anyone think to throw seal meat at the bear?
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
Sunray
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They should have smeared the twit with seal oil and sent her out to apologise to the bear. Anybody know how much NOK 10,000 is in USD? So I looked. It's 1,447.18 US Dollars.
Harve Curry
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She also could have trapped the polar bear by chopping a hole in the ice, then put some peas around the ice hole. When the bear came by to take a pea she could have kicked him in the icehole.
shep854
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As far as I'm concerned, the best thing is to not meet a polar bear.
From what I've read, they rank right up there with grizzlys for mean.
From what I've read, they rank right up there with grizzlys for mean.
Harve Curry
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I've guided some bow hunters from Alaska for elk a few years ago. The talk got around to bears because we see our little 200-300 pound black bears going to water. They tell me that polar bears are always hungry, bigger then anything else, everything looks like food to them, and so they are the most dangerous and likely to attack.
That's classic "Here comes a bear, hurry! Hide in the seal meat, he'll never look there!"
Is that the official charge!? I mean is that in the books? She was found guilty of 1 count of "reacting badly to a situation"? Hilarious.
brad cook
Is that the official charge!? I mean is that in the books? She was found guilty of 1 count of "reacting badly to a situation"? Hilarious.
brad cook
cooch
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That close and she hit it in the foot?
What fool let her loose with a rifle?
Cooch
What fool let her loose with a rifle?
Cooch
Diggler
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IIRC, I seem to remember an article that described how Fred Bear had a hard time harvesting a polar bear with his bow because every time he'd stick one, it would attack and have to be shot by his companion who had a rifle along just in case. He finally killed one with a bow only when they saw one while they stood on an icy outcropping. The bear actually stalked THEM, he shot it and it died while trying to claw its way up the small cliff to get to them. 
I've read that the polar bear is one of the few animals that doesn't differentiate man from other prey animals, and if it's hungry it WILL stalk, kill and eat you.
I've read that the polar bear is one of the few animals that doesn't differentiate man from other prey animals, and if it's hungry it WILL stalk, kill and eat you.
Smokey Joe
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PB safety
Agree with Diggler. "Polar Bear Safety," now there's an oxymoron!
Agree with Diggler. "Polar Bear Safety," now there's an oxymoron!
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A retired Army major was telling me about four soldiers in Alaska. They were in a softskin track vehicle that was ripped apart. Apparently they crossed a Polar bear and shot at it with their fifty. Didn't kill it and the angered bear knocked the track up and killed all four soldiers. His point: don't even trust a 50 when it comes to polar bears. Quad 50s are a minimum I guess.
Quad 50s are a minimum I guess.Smokey Joe
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That or, maybe, be expert with your weapon AND about your game, know where to place the bullet and how to do it for a DRT.
(Rant mode: ON) Whaddya bet the soldiers in question were from the lower 48, never seen a polar bear before except the cute cuddly ones in zoos, and were just yahoos out disturbing the local wildlife. If so they probably broke 100 military regs, 75 AK state laws, not to mention most of the Ten Commandments for gun safety. Non-shooters in civilian life, no respect for their quarry, their weapon, nor themselves. They're better off where their sergeant can't get at them. Unfortunately they'll be used as one more example of why we need more gun control.
Every single time anyone does anything stupid with a gun, it's just more fuel for the anti's. We serious and careful gun users all get smeared with the same broad brush. (Rant mode: OFF)
(Rant mode: ON) Whaddya bet the soldiers in question were from the lower 48, never seen a polar bear before except the cute cuddly ones in zoos, and were just yahoos out disturbing the local wildlife. If so they probably broke 100 military regs, 75 AK state laws, not to mention most of the Ten Commandments for gun safety. Non-shooters in civilian life, no respect for their quarry, their weapon, nor themselves. They're better off where their sergeant can't get at them. Unfortunately they'll be used as one more example of why we need more gun control.
Every single time anyone does anything stupid with a gun, it's just more fuel for the anti's. We serious and careful gun users all get smeared with the same broad brush. (Rant mode: OFF)
Yeah I was thinking the same thing. They have a .50 but they only took one shot at it? They didn't drive off when it came at them? What did the other guys just sit around and get eaten one-by-one or did the bear swallow them all up at once?
brad cook
brad cook
I no longer have the website but there is a photo of the SSN Connecticut showing a polar bear chewing on the rudder !![I guess it looks like a whale so it must be one ]My brother talked to an admiral who was aboard.He wanted to ride around on the snow mobile to see the area.He was told NO, because polar bears will just see him as food ! The watch is armed with M14s.
DigMe, the guide wasn't charged with "reacting badly", and of course there is no such law. In fact, the story was badly translated. According to the original story in Norwegian, the guide wasn't charged or fined at all. The company she works for, a Belgian tour operator, was fined because they hadn't trained and equipped their employee properly...
It is legal to shoot a polar bear in self defence, they won't let you out in the wild up there unless you have a gun. But because the bears are protected, you can shoot only after exhausting all other options, like leaving the area (snow mobile, boat) or scaring the bear away. Flares and flashbangs almost always work, as do dogs if you have them. The guide in the story above did for example have flares, but failed to try them.
I saw a TV program a couple of days ago about polar bears. A Norwegian photographer visited a Russian biologist on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Sea off Eastern Sibiria. This being Russia, no guns were allowed. This biologist had never carried a gun around polar bears, he used a big stick instead. I'm not kidding. The two of them video taped each other as they did things like walking to the outhouse, frequently having to chase bears away. This was done by yelling and waving their arms and a long piece of driftwood. If the bear didn't get the point, they would hit it across the nose as hard as they could. Just imagine a bearded Russian in a fur hat running after a 1500 pound polar bear, shaking a broom stick at it.
Seriously, this biologist had spent several months at the time every year for ten years studying these bears, I think the highest number he said he had counted around the cabin at one time was 160 bears. Of course, working in an invironment like that, a gun is useless anyway, unless you want to exterminate the wildlife you came to study.
It is legal to shoot a polar bear in self defence, they won't let you out in the wild up there unless you have a gun. But because the bears are protected, you can shoot only after exhausting all other options, like leaving the area (snow mobile, boat) or scaring the bear away. Flares and flashbangs almost always work, as do dogs if you have them. The guide in the story above did for example have flares, but failed to try them.
I saw a TV program a couple of days ago about polar bears. A Norwegian photographer visited a Russian biologist on Wrangel Island in the Arctic Sea off Eastern Sibiria. This being Russia, no guns were allowed. This biologist had never carried a gun around polar bears, he used a big stick instead. I'm not kidding. The two of them video taped each other as they did things like walking to the outhouse, frequently having to chase bears away. This was done by yelling and waving their arms and a long piece of driftwood. If the bear didn't get the point, they would hit it across the nose as hard as they could. Just imagine a bearded Russian in a fur hat running after a 1500 pound polar bear, shaking a broom stick at it.
Seriously, this biologist had spent several months at the time every year for ten years studying these bears, I think the highest number he said he had counted around the cabin at one time was 160 bears. Of course, working in an invironment like that, a gun is useless anyway, unless you want to exterminate the wildlife you came to study.
Smokey Joe
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Chasing the bears
Digme: I'm reminded of T. Roosevelt's dictum: Speak softly and carry a big stick.
To a predator, if you act like food you probably are food. (Never run away from any form of cat, for example.) If you act like another top carnivore "Hey, move, ya big furry jerk, and take that (whack, whack)" you must be another top carnivore.
Badgers at 40 lbs. get respect from grizzly bears at 1200 lbs. with this attitude.
I have personally charged a camp-raiding black bear and threatened it with an axe, but that ain't in the same league.
I tip my hat to the Russian scientists. It takes brass balls to carry this off with a group of this size predator. 'Course, the scientists and the bears were used to one another, having lived together for the length of the study. I still say it takes brass balls to carry off.
Digme: I'm reminded of T. Roosevelt's dictum: Speak softly and carry a big stick.
To a predator, if you act like food you probably are food. (Never run away from any form of cat, for example.) If you act like another top carnivore "Hey, move, ya big furry jerk, and take that (whack, whack)" you must be another top carnivore.
Badgers at 40 lbs. get respect from grizzly bears at 1200 lbs. with this attitude.
I have personally charged a camp-raiding black bear and threatened it with an axe, but that ain't in the same league.
I tip my hat to the Russian scientists. It takes brass balls to carry this off with a group of this size predator. 'Course, the scientists and the bears were used to one another, having lived together for the length of the study. I still say it takes brass balls to carry off.
I'd have to drink Vladivostock dry before I'd chase a bear with a stick.
Bezhumae tovarish!
I was watching one of those "come take photos of the bears shows" and this guide is standing by an open window saying something like... oh the bears can't get up this high.. when this bear paw comes through the window and takes the head rest off the seat next to the guide.
I think the guide needed new underwear.
A crafty Russian would lean out the window and get the headrest back.
Polar bears are BIG, really big. Everything they see is food, including smaller bears. Gorgeous animals.
Last Polar bear story:
Remember Klondike and Snow?
They were zoo bears, orphaned by their mom and were hand rasied by the vets at the Denver Zoo, sometimes even sleeping with the staff.. they were very used to people.Some early sunday mornings you could see them exercising in city park under the watchful eyes of the staff.
Now LOTS of vets came to visit, and study the development of these bears, so it was no suprise that a certain visiting vet wanted to have a look see while Klondike (who weighed MAYBE 50 pounds at the time) was getting his daily physical. The nurses on staff wore big leather gloves and aprons while handling the cub. Well, Doctor so and so puts on the apron and gloves and leans in to say "Hi there" to Klondike. Maybe Klondike didn't like the guy's aftershave but the result was a knocked out vet who need 50+ stitches to re-attach his scalp... from ONE paw swipe from polar bear cub.
Bezhumae tovarish!
I was watching one of those "come take photos of the bears shows" and this guide is standing by an open window saying something like... oh the bears can't get up this high.. when this bear paw comes through the window and takes the head rest off the seat next to the guide.
I think the guide needed new underwear.
A crafty Russian would lean out the window and get the headrest back.
Polar bears are BIG, really big. Everything they see is food, including smaller bears. Gorgeous animals.
Last Polar bear story:
Remember Klondike and Snow?
They were zoo bears, orphaned by their mom and were hand rasied by the vets at the Denver Zoo, sometimes even sleeping with the staff.. they were very used to people.Some early sunday mornings you could see them exercising in city park under the watchful eyes of the staff.
Now LOTS of vets came to visit, and study the development of these bears, so it was no suprise that a certain visiting vet wanted to have a look see while Klondike (who weighed MAYBE 50 pounds at the time) was getting his daily physical. The nurses on staff wore big leather gloves and aprons while handling the cub. Well, Doctor so and so puts on the apron and gloves and leans in to say "Hi there" to Klondike. Maybe Klondike didn't like the guy's aftershave but the result was a knocked out vet who need 50+ stitches to re-attach his scalp... from ONE paw swipe from polar bear cub.
M67, thanks for the proper translation. I posted it originally because of the bizarre 'charge' but since I speak no Norwegian I had to rely on the English version.......Dr.Rob, I remember that program, though I thought they weighed 100lbs at the time .I guess the' expert ' never was taught ,as I was , "don't bother animals when they are eating" !!!
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