In the month of July, five polar bears were spotted near the village of Ryrkaipii on the shores of the East Siberian Sea. One troublesome old male had to be forced back to Cape Kozhevnikov using flares and rubber bullets.

On the night of 27 July, a bear with two cubs wandered near the village. On the following day, a young bear tried to enter the village, but an ATV patrol managed to drive him back toward the sea. The next day, he took up residence near a walrus carcass on Weber Cape, not far from a grounded barge. He is not afraid of people and continually tries to enter the village, so the patrol has to stay vigilant.

“Polar bears wandering near houses pose a danger to people,” Viktor Nikiforov, head of the WWF Polar Bear Patrol project, said. “A few years ago, the Cape Kozhevnikov Nature Reserve was established near the village of Ryrkaipii with the support of locals. So now the walrus rookery and the territory where polar bears can be removed to are under state protection.”

(Photo © Maxim Deminov)