Polar bear kills Dutch man on Svalbard

Soelvi Elvedah, deputy governor on Norway's Svalbard archipelago, said the Dutch camping site worker was mauled in his tent early on Friday. Rushed to hospital in the main town of Longyearbyen, the 38-year-old was declared dead.

The bear too was found fatally wounded at a nearby airport parking lot after being shot by onlookers. Six other people were hospitalized for shock.

Elvedah described the incident as "tragic" and urged visitors to the region, also known as Spitzberg, to take "precautions to defend ourselves."

Norwegian NRK broadcasting said Friday's pre-dawn fatality was the fifth person killed by polar bears since 1971. The last was in 2011 when a British student among campers on a school trip. In 2015, a Czech tourist, also in a tent, survived as gunshots drove that bear away.

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Protected species, except as a last resort

An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 bears live in the vast Arctic, including about 1,000 on the archipelago, which lies halfway between Europe's north and the North Pole, 

The snow-capped island chain has about 3,000 human inhabitants and outside main settlements authorities recommend they take a gun to at least scare away bears.

Shooting them is not permitted, except as an absolute last resort.

Longyearbyen, at a latitude of 78.13 degrees north on the globe, lays claim to being the northernmost permanently inhabited town in the world and has also become home the renowned seed vault sometimes nicknamed the "Doomsday" vault.

'Not top of their menu'

Jon Aars, researcher at the Norwegian Polar Institute said polar bears generally avoided humans.

"We are not at the top of their menu, as they prefer to feed on seals," he told NRK. "But they are also opportunistic animals, and if they are hungry and are desperate enough, we can become their prey," cautioned Aars.

Because of retreating ice in the area, Aars said, polar bears were forced to spend more time on land seeking prey. 

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Highest temps on record

Last month, the Svalbard archipelago recorded its highest temperatures in over 40 years — 21.2 degrees Celcius (70.2 Fahrenheit).

Global climate change, blamed largely on mass fossil fuel carbon dioxide emissions, has triggered warming in the Arctic twice as fast as typical elsewhere on the planet.

ipj/msh (AP, AFP, Reuters)