Polar bear kills woman and cubs in remote western Alaskan village

WALES, Alaska– A polar bear attacked and killed two people in a remote village in western Alaska, according to state officers.

Alaska State Troopers said they received the report of the attack at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in Wales, on the western tip of the Seward Peninsula, KTUU reported.

“Initial reports indicate that a polar bear has entered the community and has been chasing several residents,” the soldiers wrote. “The bear fatally attacked an adult woman and a young man.”

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The bear was shot by a local resident as it attacked the couple, soldiers said.

The names of the two people killed were not released. Troopers said they were working to notify family members.

Troopers and the State Department of Fish and Game plan to travel to Wales as soon as weather permits, the statement said.

Wales is a small, mostly Inupiaq town of about 150 people, just over 100 miles north-west of Nome.

Fatal polar bear attacks have been rare in Alaska’s recent history. In 1990, a polar bear killed a man further north in Wales in the village of Point Lay. Biologists later said the animal showed signs of starvation, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

Alaska scientists from the US Geological Survey found in 2019 that changes in sea ice habitat coincided with evidence that polar bear land use was increasing and the likelihood of polar bear encounters had increased.