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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums5 polar bears have surrounded a team of unarmed researchers at remote outpost, won't leave
Five hungry polar bears have surrounded a team of unarmed researchers at a remote outpost in northern Russia.
The bears have settled in the fields outside a weather station on the island of Vaygach in the Arctic Sea, preventing researchers from leaving the building to conduct their work, the World Wide Fund for Nature in Russia said in a statement.
The team, which consists of two meteorologists and an engineer, tried to scare them off with flares, but the bears were undeterred -- and the Russian WWF says the team has no other weapons at its disposal.
The bears sleep near the station and have been seen fighting with one another outside the building in recent days, one of the researchers at the station told Viktor Nikiforov, the head of the WWF Polar Bear Patrol project.
The presence of the bears means that the researchers have been unable to make their twice daily trip, several hundred meters from the weather station, to measure water temperatures in the sea.
"People living in the Arctic must be prepared to face with a polar bear," Nikiforov said in the statement. "However, the station staff have no weapons."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/europe/russia-polar-bears/index.html
steve2470
(37,457 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)Half-baked idea: Drop polar bear food by helicopter a half mile away while bringing the scientists some weapons just in case. Make a bread crumb trail to get them away. I have no idea if this would work or the logistical problems involved.
I hope the polar bears don't become extinct and that we reverse the global climate change trend permanently, asap.
randome
(34,845 posts)Sorry.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)"What's for lunch?"
"Looks like Russians. Russian scientists."
"Hmmm... I was hoping for Chinese."
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)uppityperson
(115,677 posts)windows
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)Skittles
(153,169 posts)longship
(40,416 posts)yuiyoshida
(41,832 posts)NO HONEY in the ARTIC...
freshwest
(53,661 posts)What do they taste like?
Bear on Right:
Heard they taste like chicken.
Bear on Left:
What's a chicken?
Bear on Right:
Who cares, they'll have to come out some time!
Yours is much better!
Go Vols
(5,902 posts)snooper2
(30,151 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,370 posts)The bears will just hang around, telling long winded stories, tearfully lamenting loves lost.
And then the Karaoke starts.
Tipsy maybe, but drunk is asking for trouble.
meow2u3
(24,764 posts)I don't think one bottle would be enough.
Hassin Bin Sober
(26,330 posts)Just what we don't need. Polar bears hungry for burritos.
brooklynite
(94,596 posts)A HERETIC I AM
(24,370 posts)If you could find the right spot on a Blue Whale, it would stay put for a good skritch!
KeepItReal
(7,769 posts)The #1 Threat (time and time again).....
BEARS!
pipoman
(16,038 posts)In the Arctic cold to put a thermometer in water daily...I can tell the temperature in my chicken house with a $28 remote thermometer...
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)I love the bears and I really hope they don't decide to try and get into the cabin.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)it wouldn't last long if the bears decide it is Dinner Time.
So far, (and this is just my guess) the Polar Bears don't see the Humans as food......yet.
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)bvar22
(39,909 posts)Your domestic house cat will also eat you if you die, or maybe even if you can't defend yourself and it gets hungry.
I, also, (read your post above) never go into BEAR country without protection.
I prefer a magnum revolver. If you have a slung rifle, or sit down at camp and lean your rifle against a tree,
it does you no good at all.
I probably won't shoot unless I am "in the grasp".
In that case, a rifle is worthless. I carry a magnum revolver on my belt where I can reach it with either hand.
No safety, no two handed cock, just point anywhere near the chest or underarm, and keep pulling the trigger.
It never gets in the way. I have never leaned it up against a tree, and usually (if in bear country) sleep with it on my belt. Try finding your rifle if a bear tears open your tent at 3AM.
Hiking with a rifle gets tiring after the first mile, and slung on the 2nd mile.
Plus, carrying a rifle negates the use of at least one hand and arm while hiking.
I like both hands free when I'm in the woods.
There are 1st person reports of Bear and Mountain Lion attacks online.
Most of the victims didn't know they were in trouble until they were "in the grasp".
This is especially true of big cats, who stalk from behind.
"I never knew he was there" seems to be the most common comment.
A Bear Charge will make noise and give you some time to get ready, but did you remember to take the safety off on your rifle? Do you have time to check? Are you sure you have a chambered shot ready?
....because you will only get one chance, if any.
None of these questions or anxiety apply to a revolver.
I also believe that healthy bears won't attack humans.
That is what everybody says, and I'll go along with that,
but what about Unhealthy Bears?
*Bears that are starving because of abscessed teeth, or just old, slow, and cranky.
*A young male who just lost a mating battle with an older, meaner bear will be very upset,
and probably kill the next thing that crosses his path
*Never get between a Mom Bear and her Cubs.... Good advice!
IF you always know where the Momma is, and the Cubs are.
How the hell does a hiker keep track of the location of all Mom Bears & their Cubs along their route?
You can walk right between them and won't know it until the Momma grabs you.
My wife and I love critters...all critters, and we keep a bunch ourselves on our very rural place in the Arkansas Mountains. We love life, and all living things (except mosquitoes). We work hard to make our little place a tribute to nature and life,.... but we don't believe in being stupid.
Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)I heard that's pretty effective, and doesn't kill the bear.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)up the Al-Can. Before he did the trip he was told to get a gun. He said he has a 9mm, and was told the bears would laugh at him. For that trip he got a .44 Magnum. I am not sure if he still has it or not.
cwydro
(51,308 posts)It is THEIR habitat after all.
Shrinking everyday.
I wish no harm to the scientists either, but talk about piss poor planning...
Oneironaut
(5,504 posts)Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)sarisataka
(18,663 posts)Bucky
(54,026 posts)I think we all know what their kind goes for
yuiyoshida
(41,832 posts)I also thought of pooh bear!
Brother Buzz
(36,444 posts)it's poo bear
yuiyoshida
(41,832 posts)Mine!!
bvar22
(39,909 posts)My early education tells me that would be pic-a-nic baskets.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)It's a lonnnnng ways from Moscow and St. Petersburg.
TwilightGardener
(46,416 posts)They might go for that and leave the site alone for a while.
steve2470
(37,457 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)their natural prey.
Marty McGraw
(1,024 posts)I wonder if a day will ever come, that they realize how yummy they taste. What would that day look like.
in all honesty, I do treat pork as luxury food and really limit it to a couple of times a year ;-P
ProudToBeBlueInRhody
(16,399 posts)Putin can moderate.
lostnfound
(16,180 posts)Maybe just another creative way the creep has of getting rid of opposition.
sarisataka
(18,663 posts)Ever do to you?
If the debate was there the bears would likely choke on the words they were hearing.
Worse if they actually ate Trump the bear would die in excruciating pain from the venom that flows in his veins.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)randys1
(16,286 posts)femmocrat
(28,394 posts)Too bad we can't see their eyes up close!
randys1
(16,286 posts)BTW, if you are a TV person, one of the greatest series ever at the level of Breaking Bad
Netflix
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2707408/
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)ruffburr
(1,190 posts)I'm on the bears side, As a race we are driving them to extinction, So they are saying F--k You, God Bless them we deserve it, Sorry for the people but I really can't blame the Bears.
WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)ruffburr
(1,190 posts)The bears really don't give a damn
Historic NY
(37,451 posts)Russian bears inside
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Brickbat
(19,339 posts)Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)Of course with aliens instead of polar bears.
Stinky The Clown
(67,808 posts)steve2470
(37,457 posts)Of course, if one was breathing fish breath on my face from 6 inches away, I don't think I'd say that.
MADem
(135,425 posts)They'll run, screeching, with blood pouring from their ears!
steve2470
(37,457 posts)AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)randome
(34,845 posts)[hr][font color="blue"][center]Don't ever underestimate the long-term effects of a good night's sleep.[/center][/font][hr]
AtomicKitten
(46,585 posts)Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger, no coke, Pepsi.
greytdemocrat
(3,299 posts)To go into bear country unarmed. They'll never
make that mistake again...
joeybee12
(56,177 posts)They're running out of habitat...they're going to be there for a while.
lunatica
(53,410 posts)I'm sure someone could dart the bears and transfer them to a wilder place. Maybe from a helicopter.