Person fined after using foghorn to wake sleeping polar bear
A person has been fined in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago after using a ship’s foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear. The case highlights strict protections for wildlife in the Arctic territory, where it is illegal to disturb, attract or pursue polar bears unnecessarily.
The incident took place earlier this month in a fjord in north-western Svalbard, around 1,000km from the North Pole. The unnamed individual accepted a fine of 50,000 kroner (£3,890) after the bear woke and moved location; polar bears have been protected there since 1972, and about 250 were estimated to live in the archipelago in 2015.
- Person fined £3,890 for waking a polar bear with a foghorn
- Svalbard law bans unnecessary disturbance of protected wildlife
- The individual accepted the 50,000-kroner fine