Result of Climate Change: Russian islands declare emergency after polar bear ‘invasion’

An Arctic region of Russia has declared a state of emergency over a polar bear ‘invasion’ which has left people ‘afraid to go outside’.

According to the news agency TASS, A local official, Alexander Minayev, said that 52 polar bears were spotted between December and February near Belushya Guba, a settlement on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean,

More than a dozen polar bears search through a pile of rubbish amid a state of emergency and fears that the animals no longer feel scared of patrols. credits: DailyMail

Some of the animals have attacked people and entered residential buildings, the news agency said.

The regional government said in a statement, according to TASS, “Residents, schools and kindergartens are submitting numerous oral and written complaints demanding to ensure safety in the settlement,” .

Polar bears are forced on to land to look for food as sea ice diminishes Photo Credits : BBC

The bears appeared unfazed by dogs, additional fencing around schools and patrol vehicles, TASS reported.

“The people are scared. They are frightened to leave homes and their daily routines are broken. Parents are afraid to let the children go to school or kindergarten.”

A team of experts would be sent to Novaya Zemlya to assess the bears’ behavior, the TASS report said, adding that the country’s environmental watchdog had denied licenses allowing the killing of aggressive bears.

The appearance of polar bears in human settlements of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, which triggered a state of emergency in the region, has been caused by the seasonal migration of animals and available edible waste in the settlements, Ilya Mordvintsev, a lead researcher at the Severtsev Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Credits : TAAS

As reported by BBC, Local administration head Vigansha Musin said more than five bears were on the territory of the local military garrison, where air and air defence forces are based.

“I’ve been on Novaya Zemlya since 1983,” he said in an official press release. “There’s never been such a mass invasion of polar bears.”

His deputy said normal life was being disrupted by the threat.

Estimates put the worldwide population of polar bears at 26,000. The animals were listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 2008 amid concerns about climate change and reductions in habitat.

Aggressive: A polar bear at a playground on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in northern Russia, with parents left worried about sending their children to schools and kindergartens Credits : DailyMail

The TASS report did not specify a cause for the encounters.

With Arctic sea ice diminishing as a result of climate change, polar bears are forced to change their hunting habits and spend more time on land looking for food – which potentially puts them in conflict with humans.

Invasion: A polar bear prowls inside a building, one of more than 50 of the endangered animals who have been terrorising residents in a remote Arctic archipelago in Russia credits: DailyMail
Polar bears are affected by climate change and are increasingly forced onto land to look for food.(Credits : Dave Sandford)