A POLAR bear has killed the last villager on Russia’s Vrangel island off the northern Chukotka peninsula, scientists at a local reserve said. The reserve’s workers attempted to save Vasilina Alpaun, who was attacked on her own doorstep, but were too late. The Ushakovskoye village had been abandoned since 1997, when its inhabitants were moved to the peninsula to make way for the bear reserve, but Alpaun, 25, returned to her old home shortly afterwards.
Missed the old homestead.
Bears roam free on the island and are rarely aggressive, the reserve’s director Leonid Bove said, adding that the woman most likely provoked the animal.
Er, no, polar bears are maybe the most aggressive predators on the planet. Food is so scarce in the polar regions they will attack and eat almost anything. At the far northern radar stations, they have to maintain polar bear watches and keep personnel inside when they are around. |