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polar bears and common eiders | 2 July 2026 |
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My colleagues Børge Moe and Svenn Are Hanssen have also been working on Storholmen. They focus on common eider, arctic skua and great skua. This year they had also several cameras in the field. They have now posted their story on the website of their employer. | |
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Their story on the website of NINA, the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research can be read here. They report a number of 30 polar bear days between 4 June and 4 July. It is clearly a record number of polar bear visits and slightly more than mine number of reported visits. In their article, they discuss the implications for the birds. As eiders are a long-lived species, they can handle a year with less breeding success. But the bears are increasing and the eider numbers decreasing. How long can this go on? The red spot of the polar bear paw is not because the bear is wounded. It is the consequence of the way they handle the eggs. The bears take the eggs out of the nest and break them on their paw. The spectacular video of Joouke Prop has a beautiful registration of this as you can see here. The polar bear is one of the most dangerous animals. They are smart and can hide their approach by diving or making a detour. We are increasingly taking precautions. We carry a rifle and a flare, to deter a bear. And this year we have combined our visits to the island Storholmen, so we always had more eyes at different places on the island. In my 38 years on Svalbard, I have never needed to fire a banger or a bullit. I am proud for this, but also hope that it is never needed. |
| The instruction during every annual practice training is to shoot to kill if the bear is coming closer than 30 meters. The bear can sprint with a speed of almost 40 km per hour. No human can escape that. While covering 30 meters, you have 11 seconds to shoot. On 2 July 2026, a bear was shot at Sallyhamna, NE-Spitsbergen. The bear was trying to get into a hut. According to former policemen on Svalbard, there are 3 bears shot every year and one person dies due to a polar bear attack every three years. Sofar there was never a bear attack on a close group of people. Let us hope that we can continue to work on the islands in Kongsfjord without any accident. This is the land of the polar bear. They have the right to live here. | |
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