A 17-year-old Inuit teen survived being stranded with three polar bears on a drifting ice floe in Canada’s Hudson Bay for 24 hours.
The teen and his 67-year-old uncle, who were polar bear hunting, were reported missing late Saturday, said Ed Zebedee, director of the Nunavut government’s protection services branch.
The pair’s snowmobile broke down 12 miles from Coral Harbour, a tiny community on Nunavut’s Southampton Island in the northern part of Hudson Bay.
Walking toward the community to get help, they were separated by a widening crack in the ice. A large chunk of ice broke off, setting the teen adrift, said Zebedee.
Searchers picked up the uncle Sunday morning, but found no sign of the missing teen.
Sometime before Sunday afternoon, the teen, who was armed with a rifle, encountered three bears – likely a female and two older cubs, on the same large ice floe.
One bear, likely the adult, got too close.
“He did have to shoot the polar bear to protect himself,” said Zebedee. “There were two other bears on the ice pan but they stayed away from him so he didn’t shoot at them at all.”
The 17-year-old was being treated for hypothermia in Churchill, Manitoba, after being rescued Monday.
And that’s the latest news on Teen Survives Night With Polar Bears.
Tags: missing teen, polar bear attack, polar bears, survival, Teen Survives Night With Polar Bears
November 30th, 2009 at 7:08 am
nice post. thanks.