Polar bear kills woman, boy in remote US village

In a rare attack on humans, a polar bear mauled a woman and a boy to death in a remote area of ​​Alaska, police said. However, the bear was later shot and killed by a resident of the small community of Wells on the far west coast of Alaska.

“Preliminary reports indicate that a polar bear had entered the community and chased several residents,” police said in a statement.

“The bear made a fatal attack on an adult female and juvenile male – it was shot and killed by a local resident,” police said, adding that state troopers and officers from the Department of Fish and Game tried to reach the town. Was doing. Weather conditions permit.”

AFP reported that the identities of the victims were not made public as authorities were trying to inform their families.

Polar bear attacks are extremely rare, with local media reporting one of the most recent fatal encounters between a human and a polar bear in Alaska in 1990.

According to the Canadian NGO Polar Bear International, only 20 people worldwide have been killed by polar bears between 1870 and 2014, although the frequency of attacks is increasing.

Wells, a village of about 150 people on the Bering Strait that separates the United States from Russia, is part of the Alaska Nannut Co-management Council, a group of indigenous communities that traditionally hunt polar bears for subsistence. hunts.

Giant bears – males can grow up to 1,500 pounds (680 kg) – face increasing threats from climate change, with their Arctic sea ice habitat disappearing as the far north melts four times faster than the rest of the world. gets hotter than

The bears, whose population is declining, forage for seals and depend on the ice for movement and breeding.

According to the Anchorage Daily News, some arctic communities employ polar bear patrols to protect residents from the animals, although none were currently operating in Wells.