There are more polar bears
in Svalbard than people, in 2011 there were an
estimated 3,000 bears against a human population of
2,394. When leaving the main habitations you are
advised to carry an armament with you, a proper big
polar bear scaring or killing armament as there have
been instances of people being killed by bears
because they didn't have a big enough gun.
A young man of 17 was killed in August 2011 and two
of his companions badly injured while camping on
Svalbard.
Probably the safest way to see
polar bears is on a cruise where the bear is on land
and you are in a boat, if you go on such a cruise
you are almost guaranteed to see at least one bear,
we saw an average of one a day for a fortnight.
Polar bears in Svalbard by the Norwegian Polar
Institute
Picture
copyright Paul Ward |
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