Posted by:
Dave the Atheist
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Date: February 10, 2019 10:35AM
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Lincoln Green writes ...
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"In what sounds like an episode from Philip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, a mass invasion of polar bears caused Russian authorities to declare a state of emergency yesterday in parts of Novaya Zemlya, a large group of islands in the Arctic Ocean north of the Russian mainland.
Global warming has greatly reduced the amount of Arctic sea ice, forcing polar bears to spend more time on land hunting for food, with starvation threatening many of them. Several dozen bears are roaming near Novaya Zemlya’s main settlement Belushya Guba (human population 1,900) due to edible wastes in its trash. The Russian news agency TASS reports that six to ten of the bears are now in Belushya Guba at all times, RFE/RL says that the bears have been reported to enter homes and government buildings and even to attack people, and the BBC reports that five bears are occupying part of the military garrison’s territory.
Polar bears are protected in Novaya Zemlya and the Russian environmental agency has not issued special permits to shoot the bears, which do not seem to fear flares, sirens, or police dogs. Extra fences have been installed near kindergartens, and special vehicles are being used to deliver employees and the military to their workplaces."
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/2019 02:18PM by Tevai.