March 28, 2008

Polar bear shot near Fort Yukon

A polar bear was shot for safety concerns Thursday, over 250 miles inland from its normal habitat, after it was spotted eating lynx carcasses outside a resident's cabin.

A polar bear was shot Thursday near Fort Yukon, over 250 miles inland from its normal habitat, after it was spotted eating lynx carcasses outside a resident's cabin.

The bear was first spotted outside a cabin near Fort Yukon and was tracked three miles out of town to the Porcupine River where it was killed by hunter Zeb Cadzow.

According to a story in the Fairbanks News-Miner, the polar bear charged straight at Cadzow who didn't have time to lift and sight his rifle.

"I shot from the hip, seven or eight times," he said. "If I had gotten it to my shoulder, it (bear) would have been on top of me. It happened so quick, by the time it was down, it was about 10 feet from my feet," according to the News-Miner.

The Fort Yukon village of more than 900 people are still in a state of disbelief that a polar bear wandered so far south, said the News-Miner.

Polar bears are moving onto dry land in northern Alaska to give birth due to melting sea ice, a result of global warming, according to U.S. Geological Survey scientists.