Polar Bear Invasion In Russia
Bears
And they're endangered....
"Russian islands declare emergency after polar bear 'invasion'"
"https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-islands-declare-emergency-after-polar-bear-invasion/ar-BBTpZFh?ocid=spartandhp"
Loss of sea ice? Bears coming ashore looking for food? Might make sence. Be interesting what the aurhorities find the cause of the invasion.
Doubt seriously that this is due to a loss of sea ice. Wrong time of year and pretty sure it has been plenty cold through the last several months.
Polar bears are marine mammals that are as at home in the water as on land. They like the open water with broken ice fields.
They feed primarily on seals. If seal populations are down or the sea ice is too thick and the seals have migrated or been over hunted in that area, the bears may be coming into town for vittles.
Funny thing is that polar bears hibernate opposite of the other bears when it gets warm in the summer.
Females giving birth should be denned up now sorta semi-hibernating. I thought the ones raising last spring's cubs and males never really hibernated but did go into a slowed metabolic state (walking hibernation) when food was scarce.
Russians are easier than seals to catch.
Send Al Gore over there in a pork chop jacket to do some research.
Just got off the phone with my friend in Wasilla, Alaska. They've not had much of a winter. Only recently has the ice on the lake he lives on been enough to drive on. Normally it's approaching auger extension depth by this time.
Pretty good chance the bears are responding to a lack of prey.
Maybe it's caused by a lack of ice.
Winter in the Mat-Su Valley dictated by the pacific ocean is a poor indicator for weather conditions north of the arctic circle. A winter invasion of polar bears is most certainly not due to lack of ice that far North.
Bottom line that we often overlook, bears are opportunistic. Why hunt if there is a town dump to raid full of perfectly acceptable eats. I can't wait to capitalize on this trait in a few months when it comes to hungry Brown Bears and Black Bears. :)
A little reference. As Trevor noted, what happens in SE AK has little to no bearing on what’s happening above the Arctic Circle or Russia for that matter. The weather is completely different as the Arctic and Pacific Oceans have completely different effects on local weather.
Here’s my 4 wheeler, pic taken yesterday, north of the Arctic Circle. I rode this 4 wheeler 4 days prior.
It’s been warm (20s) but one blizzard after the next and in December, I bet we had more days under -15 than we had above it, and this is along the coast where it’s warmer. The ice is thick.
Perhaps Nick will chime in as he’s in another part of AK and has undoubtedly had a completely different winter than where Trevor and I live as he lives inland and basically a lower 48-size state away from either of us.
Either way, early February is not the time when there’s a lack of ice on the ocean. This is when ice is at its maximum.
If day it’s a lack of seals.
CBC in Canada ran a fairly lengthy news spot on this last night. The Russian town is a military base with an open dump. The bears are pounding the garbage. They looked fat and happy. No discussion about lack of sea ice or anything, just bears being scavengers with nothing to stop them from taking advantage of a free lunch.
I bet their colluding with Putin; that's why they're there!
the photos and video I have seen show huge piles trash all over the place......no wonder the bears are coming into the town. lots bbn of free food!
Bears being bears.
Must be due to Trump induced global warming...
I'm reading The Terror - Dan Simmons about a massive polar bear terrorizing on the Northwest Passage Expedition 1847. Fitting book for the this weather we are dealing with in Mn.
