“Nobody has ever experienced anything like this here” – Polar bear spotted in southern Canada
Polar bears’ natural habitat – pack ice – is melting further and further
Source: Getty Images/Paul Souders
At first people might have thought she was joking: A Canadian discovered a polar bear 800 kilometers northeast of Montreal. The police have appealed to the people to stay in their homes. Experts suspect climate change to be behind the excursion from the polar bear region.
wooA polar bear has been seen far beyond its range in southern Canada. According to reports from officials and eyewitnesses, the animal appeared on Saturday morning in the small village of Madeleine-Center near the St. Lawrence River. “Our dog barked and I heard my husband shout, ‘There’s a bear! There’s a bear!'” said Sophie Bonneville from a village of 2,000 people 800 kilometers northeast of Montreal.
Quebec police urged caution. Madeleine-Center residents must stay indoors and not go outside.
Bonneville said that at first people thought she was joking. However, she was able to take several proof photographs of the animal before it disappeared into the wild. “Nobody here has ever experienced anything like this. How can a bear cross the pack-ice to the river, swim across it to come here?”
Otherwise, polar bears will not be able to be seen on the other side of the St. Lawrence River. It could be a result of climate change, she speculated.
According to a 2020 study published in the journal Nature Climate Change, climate change could cause polar bears to become nearly extinct as their natural habitat – pack ice – continues to melt.
