Two Polar Bears Kill Worker in Canadian Arctic

A rare attack by polars bears killed a worker at a remote radar station in the Canadian Arctic, reports AFP. Two of the bears attacked an employee of the Nasittuq Corporation on Brevoort Island in Nunavut territory last week, the company announced. It provided no further details on the person's identity or on the events leading to the attack. "We need to respect the family in this tragic situation, and let the [investigators] and the authorities do their job," Nasittuq president Chris Webb tells Nunatsiaq News.

A company release said other employees responded to the attack, adding that "one of the animals was put down." Brevoort Island is at the eastern edge of Baffin Island and is home to a radar station that belongs to the US and Canada's North Warning System for aircraft or missile incursions. While polar bear attacks on humans are rare, this one follows a fatal one on a mother and son last year in Alaska. (Meanwhile, the long-term outlook for the bears is a bleak one in the warming climate.)