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A team of Russian Federation meteorologists is trapped in their remote Arctic station because a swarm of deadly polar bears has surrounded the complex.
A study, by San Diego Zoo Global conservationists, released this week (Sept. 12, 2016) is shedding new light on how scientists evaluate polar bear diet and weight loss during their fasting season.
Manitoba Sustainable Development, the University of Alberta, and Environment and Climate Change Canada combined for the study, holding polar bears in the Polar Bear Holding Facility in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada during the ice-free season from 2009 to 2014.
Located a long way from Moscow, the weather station is on a remote island in the Arctic circle.
The station’s personnel are equipped with flares and dogs to scare the polar bears away – hunting the animals is banned in Russian Federation – but they have run out of flares and one of their dogs was killed by (you guessed it) a bear.
“Worst case, the station chief has a gun”.
“As of Saturday, a female bear has practically been sleeping under the Arctic station’s windows”, he said. Consequently, some meteorological observations outside the premises have been abandoned. The scientists have since run out of flares to scare off the ursine creatures, and it’s against Russian law to kill or shoot a polar bear unless it’s self-defense.
The meteorologists work in one-year shifts, receiving supplies from the occasional ship that passes in their direction.
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The polar bears were not fed while in captivity and lost an average of 2.2 pounds of mass per day, which is equivalent to the weight loss seen by wild polar bears with land-based food opportunities.
