Two polar bears kill a worker at an Arctic station in Canada

Two polar bears have killed a worker at a remote Arctic radar station in Canada's northern Nunavut Territory, prompting an investigation into the rare fatal attack, UNN reports citing the BBC.

Details

The employee, whose name was not disclosed, worked for the Nasittuq Corporation, a logistics company that manages radar protection facilities on behalf of the Canadian government.

Other workers arrived at the scene and killed one of the bears, the company said in a statement.

"We are working closely with local authorities and regulators to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances of this incident," the company said.

The attack took place last week on Brevoort Island, southeast of Baffin Land.

According to CBS News, the BBC's partner in the United States, the site is one of dozens of Northern Warning System outposts in northern Canada. The network, which covers 5,000 km, exists to detect aircraft or missiles entering the region.

Polar bear attacks on humans are extremely rare, but this is at least the second recorded death from a polar bear attack since 2023.

Last year, a woman and her one-year-old son were killed by a polar bear in a village in Alaska.

According to the Canadian government, there are about 17 ,000 polar bears in the country, which is about two-thirds of the world's population of this species.

Addendum

Elsewhere in the U.S. state of Montana, a black bear dragged a three-year-old girl from her tent at a private campsite on Sunday.

Wildlife protection officers set traps and euthanized one bear believed to be involved in the attack.

Black bears are much smaller than polar bears, but can still be very dangerous to humans.

In 2023, a woman was fatally injured and eaten in her home in California, the first death by a black bear in the state's history.