Polar Bear Attacks School Group, Kills 17-Year-Old British Boy on Remote Arctic Island
- Posted on August 6, 2011 at 9:51am by
Madeleine Morgenstern
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An image from the District Governor of Spitsbergen's office shows the dead polar bear that attacked students camping on a remote Arctic glacier in Norway, Friday, Aug. 5, 2011 . The bear was shot and killed by other members of the group. (AP Photo / Arild Lyssand / District governor of Spitsbergens office / via Scanpix)
OSLO, Norway (The Blaze/AP) — A polar bear attacked a group of British students camping on a remote Arctic glacier as part of a high-end adventure trip, killing a 17-year-old boy and injuring four other young people Friday before a trip member fatally shot the bear.
Two were hospitalized with severe head injuries, according to the British Schools Exploring Society, the organizer of the trip. The other two had injuries that were less serious. Hospital officials said Saturday all four victims are recovering after surgery.
The attack took place on the Svalbard archipelago, which is home to about 2,400 people and 3,000 polar bears and attracts well-off and hardy tourists with stunning views of snow-covered mountains, fjords and glaciers.
The British Schools Exploring Society is affiliated with Britain’s Royal Geographic Society and has run expeditions for young people to remote and challenging corners of the globe for at least 75 years.
Expedition members were spending three to five weeks in the Arctic, and had each paid 2,000 pounds (US$3,300) to 3,000 pounds (US$4,900) to join the trip, designed to mix science experiments with adventure.
Participants were hunting for Arctic fossils and taking part in environmental experiments, including a project to install hydro and solar power systems. The group also was clearing beaches of tidal debris.
Before heading to the Arctic, youngsters had been urged to raise their fitness levels to cope with the challenging terrain, and to prepare for a diet of freeze-dried meals.
The campers were in a group of 80 people, most of them between 16 and 23, the British Schools Exploring Society said. Many posed Wednesday for a final photo together before splitting into smaller groups to head out to more remote parts of the Arctic.
On Friday morning, some of the youths were camping on Spitsbergen Island, the largest in the Svalbard archipelago, and a place where researchers say there is not much food available for polar bears during the summer.
The bears, which can grow to around 10 feet (3 meters) and weigh up to 1,200 pounds (550 kilograms), are the world’s largest non-aquatic predators. Although they don’t usually hunt humans, they can attack nearly anything if they are hungry.
With their broad paws and claws as long as two inches (5.1 centimeters), polar bears are extremely dangerous and visitors to Svalbard are advised always to be armed, avoid confrontation and store smelly food securely.
The bear attacked a group of 13 people in the early morning, leaving them with moderate to severe wounds that included head injuries, officials said. One of the campers shot the bear, said Liv Asta Oedegaard, a spokeswoman for the Svalbard governor’s office.
The injured were evacuated by helicopter to Tromsoe, the nearest city on the Norwegian mainland.
“With great sadness the British Schools Exploring Society confirms the tragic death this morning of one of the members of its expedition in Svalbard,” said Edward Watson, chairman of the British Schools Exploring Society. He named the teen as Horatio Chapple, who hoped to study medicine.
“By all accounts, he would have made an excellent doctor,” Watson said, adding that his thoughts were with the family.
The parents of the dead teenager have been informed and the names of the dead and injured would be released once Norwegian authorities had concluded investigations, he said.
The attack happened about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside Svlabard’s capital, Longyearbyen, the main tourist hub with a population of about 2,000.
Visitors are urged to carry high-powered rifles whenever venturing outside Longyearbyen. Polar bear safety brochures advise campers against setting up their tents in areas where bears roam.
Oedegaard said campers normally lay a tripwire around tents before they go to sleep. An emergency flare is triggered if an animal crosses the wire. It was unclear whether the British campers’ wire had worked properly, she said.
“It is not unusual to camp here, but it is necessary to carry weapons,” she said.
In a July 27 posting on the society’s website, expedition member Marcus Wright wrote that the group had encountered polar bears shortly after arriving in Longyearbyen.
“I think we must have all dreamed of polar bears because the next day we were eagerly waiting for the ice floes to break up so we could move on to base camp,” Wright wrote in his blog posting.
Wright wrote that the group had spotted a polar bear across a fjord, and also another bear floating on some ice. “This time we were lucky enough to borrow a kind Norwegian guide’s telescope to see it properly,” he wrote.
Other postings detailed that the group had been trained in using bear flares to protect their camps, and also received rifle training.
Kjersti Noraas, a Svalbard tourism coordinator, said around 30,000 tourists visit the islands every year and although most choose to go on guided tours, “quite a few come to camp in the wilderness.”
The last fatal polar bear attack in Svalbard occurred in 1995, when two people were killed in separate incidents, according to Magnus Andersen, a researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute. He said an average of three bears a year were killed from 1993 to 2004 in encounters with humans.
Andersen called Friday‘s attack the most serious he’d seen.
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Comments (95)
PA PATRIOT
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:33amI can’t imagine being mauled by a bear, but let alone I can’t imagine sending my child there without a S&W 50 cal. :)
Report Post »jds7171
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:08pmI guess the kid should have been driving a prius…..Don’t tell me I was the only one who thought of that joke.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:38pmThey worry about Man-Made Global Warming killing off the Polar Bears. Then they bring a host of Polar Bear Food into his habitat , in the form of children. Then when a PB has lunch , in the form of a child they kill the PB. Progressive thought at it’s best.
Report Post »Dustoff
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 1:32pmI’m a diver. Being that. I know better than dive with sharks. 3000 bears and just you is not a good idea.
Report Post »swampbuck
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 1:52pm@jds7171 it was a nissan leaf…lol
Report Post »poverty.sucks
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 2:25pmAre you saved? If you should die during your next evironmental experiment, would you go to Heaven?
http://peacewithgod.jesus.net/
Report Post »PA PATRIOT
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 3:24pm@ Poverty.sucks
Saved from what? I have never had to protect myself from Polar Bears. However, occasionally I do have the opportunity to tread on some ground that is inhabited by Grizzlies, Brown and Black Bear, but I believe I would still be able to save my “Highknee” wiith my stainless S&W 500.
There is an old joke about the AMISH using the term FRUGAL to represent saving or saved . Well it just so happens that this guy was swimming in the river one day and got caught in a terrible current, he ended up screaming “Frugal Me, Frugal Me!
Report Post »Are you Frugal?
SREGN
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:27amOh great, jihadist bears now. Maybe it’s time to make them extinct.
Report Post »KickinBack
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:27amThe UN better get on the ball to save the dwindling human population on that island…
Report Post »JJMcCartney-dot-com
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:15amPlease excuse me if I sound like I am fighting a chuckle while reading this article. The arithmetic: a small arctic island with a population of 2,400 people and 3,000 polar bears. What kind of moronic lunacy leads people to pitch a tent where the Polar bears outnumber the humans?
A tent full of people, to a polar bear, looks and smells an awful lot like fresh take-out food in a white paper bag with a gigantic M on the side of it.(ba-ba-ba-ba-bah….I‘m lovin’ it!)..
The arrogance of people, and their ironically fatal eccentricities really underscore how, as the Bible put it, they “profess themselves to be wise”, thus proving their foolishness.
Tragic that a 17-year-old died, yes…but more tragic still that adults decided that this activity was safe or would do the kids some good.
Polar bears are ferocious animals. They are carnivores, and their natural habitat is fairly harsh for humans. That is like God posting a warning sign to keep away from the bears…arctic island, ice, fjords, snow-capped hills, sub-zero temperatures, and very remote.
What were these people thinking? Oh, yeah…they were probably not on the lookout for Polar bears, they were too busy looking out for white male tea-party terrorists, since the media is telling everybody that is the big threat.
Report Post »Crusader71
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:40amI agree, they should never have been there.
Report Post »J.C. McGlynn
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:43amYou forgot to add Chrisian and military trianing.
Report Post »Jedrin
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:00pmSince they are British subjects they should be thrown in jail for being around firearms and then after they do their time for that then the UN can take them to Brussels and tried for crimes against nature for killing the bear. And anyone that thinks the British can handle a firearm, well now days they freak out if they find a .22 rim fire cartridge on the ground.
Report Post »TXMD
Posted on August 7, 2011 at 2:10pmobviously, the United States does not have a monopoly on “stupid.” Playing in the polar bear’s sandbox (snowbox) makes as much sense as using one’s toe to attract a bunch of sharks.
Report Post »Glenn in Virginia
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:07amThat poor, unfortunate, misunderstood polar bear was doubtless just upset about the onslaught of Global Warming.
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:16amHe was just floating around on a piece of ice and drinking his Coke not bothering anyone…
But the ice cube started melting and he was out of Coca Cola and he heard global warming was the cause, so he ate someone….
Why couldn’t it \be Al Gore?
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:40pmDusty
Report Post »The PB would get Food Poisoning.
SafeguardOurLiberty
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:02amAgain, this is Polar Bear terrority. Why the hell do people put themselves into this kind of situation? Why the hell are adults taking kids into these areas where it is a dangerous situation? Now we have a kid dead and a polar bear, which is a protected species, dead. What idiots. What is wrong with these adults? There are places in which humans should not tread, where if they do, they need to be extensively trained for it to avoid anyone or any animial that is their domain being killled. The adults in charged, should be arrested for killing a threatened species, and for stupidity!
Report Post »Glenn in Virginia
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:51pmWell, I’ve been in “Alligator Territory” several times, in Northwest Florida and South Georgia. In the Okefenokee Swamp, I’ve paddled past alligators within five or ten feet of me. Seen hundreds of ‘em in a day’s paddle. Don‘t bother them and they won’t bother you. Just DON’T fall in the water. Polar Bears, I’d guess, are not quite so indifferent to human presence. I imagine stomping around in the ice and snow would be like getting in the water with gators.
Report Post »BeckaBrwnEyes
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:01amI would prefer it if people stay out of the area and leave the damn polar bears alive. I am not amused by this nonsense. You venture into polar bear territory and get attacked, it is not the bear who should be killed. Idiots.
Report Post »WhiteFang
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 4:08pmThank you!
Report Post »I think I should not do too much commenting on this one. What can I say?
Blacktooth
Posted on August 7, 2011 at 3:25pmThe polar bear payed with its life for the stupidity of these Disney Land visitors.
Report Post »Walkabout
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:00amWhat is the purpose of marksmanship when there is only one gun per so many people? A recipe for failure?
A head shot to the brain would be a hard shot form many novices. Hitting a bear in the gut is just going to piss it off. It will have a long while until it dies.
They simply did not have enough guns.
Report Post »My Two Cents
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:40amThis is a great example of liberal hypocricy. They encourage people to carry weapons when they enter an environment full of predatory animals yet they ban people from carrying weapons when they enter an environment full of predatory humans such as New York City & Chicago.
Report Post »Crusader71
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:43amAmen to that My Two Cents!
Report Post »nysparkie
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:58amWanna play where the BIG guys live? You had better be able to protect yourself. I am not talking about pepper spray either.
Report Post »Seabee79
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:51amPOOR BEAR.
So these dumb as$ kids go out on the bears turf, and the bear sees them as food and kills one.
Hey here is a great idea, stay the f–k out of the bears territory.
Report Post »ollie42
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:01amWhy do you think that the people who run this program say you should carry a weapon? They didn’t go out there hunting, maybe they were studying how to save the bears. Nevertheless they had as much right to be there as the bear. Another Idiot.
Report Post »Crusader71
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:55amNow I have been fairly close to bears. Not Polar Bears, just Black Bears, and I know they look cute, fuzzy and all, but if they get ticked off, they won’t think twice about ripping your face off in a heartbeat. And by all the accounts I have heard, Polar Bears are even more dangerous and will actively hunt humans. Those kids should never have been there.
Report Post »BOstinks
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 12:04pmAll things considered I believe that the bears would vote to call off future camping trips into areas where they live. The bear that was killed isn‘t going to gain any value from the ’studies’ that were being conducted. The globe may or may not be warming but he will never get to hear the end of the story!
Report Post »WILLIAM E.
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:51amAl the whore Gore said the Polar Bear was to be extinct by now. He must’ve been wrong on this also.
Report Post »texaspug
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:41amwhy shoot the polar bear? you are in HIS turf!
Report Post »BrotherWill
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:50amUhhh….no, its my turf. God gave it AND the Polar Bear as our resources. He didn’t give it the bear.
Report Post »ollie42
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:56amI suppose you think it would be better to let the bear kill all of those kids. Idiot!!!
Report Post »Crusader71
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:24amYou are right it IS his turf, and anyone venturing in it MUST respect that. Polar bears are very dangerous and will actively hunt human beings for food. The bear doesn’t care if God created him as our resource, he is hungry at a time when apparently there is little food to be found. I think a little more caution, more vigilance, and more respect for these animals should have been used.
Report Post »tobywil2
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:40amEnvironmentalist must be very happy. Not only have we sacrificed our standard of living to improve the Polar Bear habitat but the British are now feeding them! http://commonsense21c.com/
Report Post »affinnity
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:39amI‘m pretty sure this polar bear attended a recent Arctic Tea Party event and if I’m not mistaken he claimed to be a devout Christian. Perhaps the Liberal Progressives should do a fact check to see if I’m correct.
Report Post »thinkinghuman
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:37amSounds like there is an overpopulation of polar bears that they need to try and eat humans to survive.
Report Post »affinnity
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:41amLet’s pay for more Liberals to visit the Arctic and help feed the bears.
Report Post »quicker
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:51amSince the 70s the polar bears population has exploded ,And since polar bears are predators they need a lot of square miles to life .So by population size alone these bears will expaned their areas.There is some evidence that they are coming south and inter breeding with grizzleys and brown bears.
Report Post »NSDQ
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:35amI Believe it was Mr. Miyogi that said it best “Best Defense (especially against polar bears) No Be There”
Report Post »junkmaninohio
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:28amThe liberals and environmentalist whackos will blame global warming, The Tea Party, and George Bush for this tradgey.
Report Post »Libby Tarian
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:27amHeadlines:
Report Post »Al Gore to attend this Polar Bear’s funeral at which he will leave 15 SUV motors running throughout the funeral.
paragtime
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:21am**** happens.
Report Post »AlansTigg
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:18ama senseless tragedy….and now of course the Brits will be blamed for causing undue stress to the fragile “swimming for their lives” polar bear population. Gotta say though I can’t imagine living some where or even camping in a place where the bears outnumber the people.
Report Post »givemelibertyorgivemedeath
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:53amThose were exactly my thoughts! I re-read it twice before thinking…I would never have gone, let alone send my children!
Report Post »Crusader71
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:29amAnd during a time of the year when the bears have little food. I wouldn’t have gone either.
Report Post »mattmo79
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:17amOh no, they killed Pookie the Bear!
Report Post »georgeisn6
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:14amNot enough ice for the bears and a bunch of stupid enviromentlist’s, dident they here what the great ozon hole head Al Gore said about there not being enough ice for the bear’s
Report Post »Gamaliel
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:11amMaybe the bear is upset upset about the humans trying to kill him and his family with global warming. The murder of this innocent animal is an unforgivable travesty. It never would‘ve happened if it weren’t for the interference by the gun.
Report Post »Want our country back
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:21amGama, the travesty is that an innocent child was killed. Whatever the situation with the gun and bear were, I’m sure that it had to be put down.
Report Post »912828Buckeye
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:29amPeople go camping in the wilderness where there is a population of 3000 Polar Bears and the bears go hungry in the summer because of a lack of food and you blame the gun. BWHAHAHAHAHA
Report Post »Neo Con John
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:17amBoth your comments are Cretinous.
Report Post »The bear did what bears do!
The kid should have been better prepared to infringe upon the bears territory.
bottom line, You gotta be tough, if your gonna be stupid.
Reality suck’s! Get over it.
Crusader71
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:38amThe bear had to go. If it was in the midst of attacking people it HAD to be shot. I think the travesty is that these poor kids where even there to begin with.
Report Post »Gamaliel
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 1:59pmHey folks, this was sarcasm. The left’s agenda collides with itself at every turn because it is based on evil not truth.
Report Post »timjohnson1967
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:05amUhhh.why did they shoot the bear, was it attacking still?
Report Post »Wilkins
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:18amIs that a serious question?
Report Post »Broncobuster
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 11:16amWell,um,yeah,it was trying to take them all out ..Besides,it had lost it’s fear of humans ,now having the taste of human blood ,it now looked at them as a food source .To let it live would have heightened the danger from that particular bear exponentially. It would have surly killed someone again.
Report Post »DallyWama
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 9:55amSooooo…they are not extinct. Hmmph. Algore says so.
Report Post »psst
Posted on August 6, 2011 at 10:04amI was about to post same thing. Usually I just start posting first ,then read all the other post.Usually, I get to stories when there are already 3 or 4 pages.filled. But when I got here, I could not help but see your post as it was the only one showing.
Report Post »Bore said they were all extinct or nearly so, and the ones left were all out at sea swimming for their lives to come to ameriKa and seek shelter in NY Ice Zoo or was it Kali4nya? But never mind. An ice zoo is an ice zoo.
Of course it’s tragic also.