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Polar Bear kills woman and 1 year old son


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WOW! I know where Wales is, I was There once! Back in 1970 I was stationed there at a remote radar site on the Bering Strait a mile or so from the village of Wales and visited there a few times. In the year that I was there there were a few sightings of Polar Bears but no dangerous encounters in that year but the Eskimos had stories about previous dangerous encounters in the past. And from where we were, you could see Russia's Big Diomede Island

The location was designated Cape Prince of Wales which is where the village got it's name, and the radar site was, and maybe still is, called Tin City AFS because there used to be a Tin mine at the location. My job was running the generators in the power plant. From what I've heard, the radar site is still in operation but it's been downsized. When I was there there were two separate facilities. One was the radar dome at the top of the hill and the other was the steam plant, the power plant, and the living quarters for administration and the support crew of al least 100 individuals working different shifts. there was also a motor pool, an officer's club and an NCO club, a movie theater and a Gym.

And then there was a tram that ran from the main facility to the radar dome to take supplies and personnel up and down to and from the radar dome. The main facility was at sea level right on the coast and the village of Wales was downhill from the dome and also at sea level. I'd estimate the elevation of where the dome was to be about 1200 feet. As I recall, they had their own cook up there and it was all enlisted men but instead of an NCO club for relaxation they had all the beer you could drink although the NCOIC did not allow drinking on duty.

But I went up there once to service the backup generator even though they got their main power from the Power plant at the bottom of the hill and when I was finished servicing the backup generator, high winds prevented me from going back to the main facility so I drank beer all day long for a couple of days because while I was technically on duty I had nothing to do and just hung out with the radar guys until the weather cleared. It was the first time I ever drank that much beer but I found that if you took it slow you wouldn't really get drunk.

So I figure that now that it's been downsized there must still be a main power plant at the bottom of the hill and maybe just a minimal support crew at the bottom where there would also have to be, as there was back then, an airfield big enough and well maintained enough for cargo planes to land to bring in supplies and heavy equipment.

 

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12 hours ago, geeorge said:

If I lived where there were bears I would carry two big guns all the time

Most of them do, and many long guns at the ready all the time, only reason this doesn't happen more often is the bears generally fear humans. 

It must be kept that way or the bears win.

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On 1/19/2023 at 12:01 PM, Fog said:

Most of them do, and many long guns at the ready all the time, only reason this doesn't happen more often is the bears generally fear humans. 

It must be kept that way or the bears win.

I really can't think of a scenario where the bears win. Too many people. :(

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8 hours ago, Walt Longmire said:

Eff around and find out.

I was visiting my daughter in the bush.  They were at the school every day.  I was bored.  Not much to do on a frozen sandbar.

The morning pilots had kept reporting seeing polar bears at the dump (about 2 miles away).  I decided I wanted to see a bear.  I started trudging that direction (no guns).

The dump is the biggest feature on the island.  I got very close.  Then I saw paw prints.

They were bigger than my head.

Then I knew I was a moron.

I immediately turned and did a hurried jog, through calf-deep snow,  all the way back.

I never did see a bear.

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1 hour ago, gwalchmai said:

Better to not see them... 

I've heard that a polar bear can smell you from 30 miles away.  And they can jog, or swim, nonstop, for weeks at a time. 

That means if you are on the ice,  with no rifle or machine, and they are hungry,  you are already dead.

If they were at the dump every day,  they were probably pretty hungry.

I'm probably very lucky their noses were full of garbage-stench.

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On 1/18/2023 at 9:30 PM, Walt Longmire said:

Of course they try to blame climate change. Also while this is the first time in several years that a Polar Bear had killed a human, Alaska's brown and black bears kill unlucky people every year.

Yeah, that global warming has really killed the polar bear population. Just as predicted. 

 

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4 hours ago, Huaco Kid said:

I was visiting my daughter in the bush.  They were at the school every day.  I was bored.  Not much to do on a frozen sandbar.

The morning pilots had kept reporting seeing polar bears at the dump (about 2 miles away).  I decided I wanted to see a bear.  I started trudging that direction (no guns).

The dump is the biggest feature on the island.  I got very close.  Then I saw paw prints.

They were bigger than my head.

Then I knew I was a moron.

I immediately turned and did a hurried jog, through calf-deep snow,  all the way back.

I never did see a bear.

It's a good thing you didn't see one. You would have been converted to a bear turd and **** out on the ice somewhere in a blizzard.

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2 hours ago, Huaco Kid said:

I've heard that a polar bear can smell you from 30 miles away.  And they can jog, or swim, nonstop, for weeks at a time. 

That means if you are on the ice,  with no rifle or machine, and they are hungry,  you are already dead.

If they were at the dump every day,  they were probably pretty hungry.

I'm probably very lucky their noses were full of garbage-stench.

Their bellies were full of dump stuff. BUT they do prefer 'white' meat, Chechako. LOL

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10 hours ago, Huaco Kid said:

I've heard that a polar bear can smell you from 30 miles away. 

Hey, I been splitting and stacking firewood all day. It was unseasonably warm... 

Seriously, the Old Injun used to say if leaf falls in forest Eagle sees it letting go of the limb, Deer hears it falling through the air, and Bear smells it hitting the ground. 

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29 minutes ago, Huaco Kid said:

He drives,  She rides on the back,  I get to ride in the sled.  With the garbage.

I'm old.  And I'm Dad.  So they took it easy on me.

But if you should happen to climb into any Eskimo's sled,  they instantly go 320mph,  and swerve to hit the biggest bumps,  just to see you flipping backflips back there.  It's hilarious.

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43 minutes ago, Huaco Kid said:

I'm old.  And I'm Dad.  So they took it easy on me.

But if you should happen to climb into any Eskimo's sled,  they instantly go 320mph,  and swerve to hit the biggest bumps,  just to see you flipping backflips back there.  It's hilarious.

I had a young friend hang on to the bumper on my snow go. I pulled him across the lake at high speeds. Suddenly he starts twisting himself around, then lets go. As he slides to a stop he comes up to his feet and starts ripping the parka off. It got HOT.

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