Inspectors from the Nizhnekolymskaya Inspectorate for Environmental Protection have been monitoring polar bears on the Kolyma Gulf coast for about a month now. The inspectors came from the village of Pokhodsk to the Krestovy ranger station and will work at the site until mid-August.    

They sighted solitary polar bears immediately. The bears swam across from Medvezhyi Islands Archipelago. One came close to the houses, but was chased away by shots fired in the air. The bear was later spotted further south, around the mouth of the Chukochya River.  

At the end of last summer, the endangered predators were causing a lot of trouble for local reindeer herders, and so the inspectors are now warning them via walkie-talkie about the sightings of polar bears on the coast. 

“In April this year, we met with representatives from the reindeer herding communities and gave them the equipment they need to scare the bears away and explained the safety precautions they should take if they encounter a polar bear, so we should have no problems now,” said Viktor Nikiforov, an expert on polar bears from the Marine Mammals research and expedition centre.  

(Photo © Ruslan Sleptsov)