Russian scientists were hunted by polar bears

Climate change could have affected polar bears more than we think. They encircled a weather station in the north of Siberia and trapped five Russian scientists inside for two weeks. The rescue team arrived only on Wednesday and until then the humans were not able to get out of the station.

• Russian scientists could not live the station in Siberia because there were 10 polar bears outside.
• They received flares and dogs to scare the bears, after two weeks.

The situation was not looking food at first. The authorities will not be able to send supplies during this month. However, a passing ship delivered the flares and dogs by helicopter.   The ship was from the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute of the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring. They delivered three dogs and devices to make the bears disappear. This was the only solution. Of course, many people said it would have been easier to kill them. If you did not know by now, polar bear hunting it illegal because they are vulnerable species. The best defense the Russian scientists had was to use the flares and dogs.

Vadim Plotnikon, who was leading the study, said they had to stop their researchers after ten adult polar bears came too close to the building. He also explained that one female bear was sleeping under the station’s windows. Moreover, the bears killed one of their guard dogs, so people were afraid to walk out of the station.

Researchers were advised to stay there no matter what and pay attention to what polar bears are doing. Although there is a region where these animals are common, something changed.  Scientists think that the bears were aggressive due to climate change. They were used to go to other islands. However, this year they were not able to do this because the ice melted too soon.

This is not the first time this year when polar bears are a threat to humans and they are expected to be more dangerous. Even though the Russian scientists were saved, there can be others researchers in the same situation as them, in the future. Climate change seems to have worse effects on polar bears than we have thought.

Image source: Wikipedia