A tragic polar bear attack in a remote Alaska Native town claimed the lives of a 24-year-old lady and her 1-year-old son.
In a Wednesday update, the state Department of Public Safety identified the woman and boy as Summer Myomick, 24, of Saint Michael, and her 1-year-old son Clyde Ongtowasruk. The attack took place close to a school in Wales.
“Initial reports indicate that a polar bear had entered the community and had chased multiple residents,” the state Department of Public Safety wrote in its dispatch.
“The bear fatally attacked an adult female and juvenile male – it was shot and killed by a local resident as it attacked the pair.”
After the polar bear incident on Tuesday, troopers and wildlife officials were unable to travel to Wales due to bad weather and a lack of runway lights at the Wales gravel airstrip. On Wednesday, attempts were being made once more.
The administrator of the school, Dawn Hendrickson, described Wednesday’s atmosphere in Wales as “traumatic.”
A day after the tragic attack, classes were canceled. Ms. Hendrickson stated, “The students are with their families.” The student body had access to counselors.
Polar bear attacks that resulted in death have been rare in modern Alaskan history. In 1990, a polar bear that lived further north of Wales killed a man in the settlement of Point Lay. Later, according to biologists, the animal displayed signs of malnutrition, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
Even though polar bear assaults are extremely uncommon worldwide, a 2017 study related “increasing worry for both human and bear safety” to expectations that more “nutritionally stressed” bears may spend more time on land close to humans due to the loss of their sea ice habitat. The U.S. Geological Survey experts in Alaska have similarly noted major losses in the sea ice that polar bears depend on.
The predominantly Inupiaq community of about 150 people organizes patrols from July through early November, before the sea ice forms and bears head out on the frozen landscape to hunt seals. This is typical of many remote Alaskan villages.
