Early this winter, as many as 200 polar bears gathered near the village of Ryrkaypiy, just as they did last year. For a week, WWF Russia Polar Bear Patrol specialists have made efforts to prevent conflicts between the bears and village residents, which has helped save the lives of many animals.

Nevertheless, on 26 December, the body of a young two-year-old polar bear was found dead with two gunshot wounds just outside the village during the morning patrol.

“This young female bear had been spotted near the village,” Tatyana Minenko, Polar Bear Patrol coordinator for Ryrkaypiy, said. “We chased the animal off several times to a site where she could feed on the remains of walruses.”

“So far, it is unknown who shot the young bear and why,” said Viktor Nikiforov, head of the WWF Russia’s Polar Bear Patrol programme. “We hope the police do something quickly to investigate this. Also, we are disturbed by the fact that this is not the only young motherless polar bear spotted near the village this year. The most probable cause might be that poachers are killing the mothers,” he said.

(Photo © Tatyana Minenko)