A man who “leapt on” a polar bear to save his wife from an attack sustained serious injuries but is expected to fully recover, authorities in Canada’s remote Ontario said.
The couple in the Fort Severn First Nation, in the far northern section of Ontario, encountered a polar bear at 5am local time in their driveway on Tuesday.
The bear attacked the woman, pinning her to the ground. Her husband leapt on top of the animal to save her from what is a rare attack, the Nishnawbe Aski police service said in a news release.
The husband was saved just in time by a neighbour who heard the struggle and ran over to shoot the bear.
The police said the animal retreated to the woods where he died and the man suffered serious but not life-threatening injuries to his arms and legs.
Police arrived at the scene following reports of gunshots and found the bear dead in the woods nearby.
Fort Severn is the northernmost community in Ontario and a remote First Nations reserve. Situated along the Severn River near Hudson Bay, it is home to the Cree Nation and boasts a unique sub-Arctic environment.
With its isolation and proximity to wilderness, human-wildlife interactions, including encounters with polar and black bears, are rare but not unheard of.
There are an estimated 17,000 polar bears across Canada; of the world’s total estimated population of 26,000.
Scientists have warned that interactions with wild animals could become more common as the Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world, pushing bears to the brink of starvation due to the loss of food such as seals.
A research also said that polar bears will not be able to adapt to ice-free environments and are likely to starve to death.
The results, published in the journal Nature Communications this year, reveal a grim reality for these creatures as they grapple with the challenges of a changing environment.
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