Meteorologists Invade Polar Bear Habitat, are Frightened and Confused by Presence of Polar Bears

Many of the stories we share on the Earth First! Newswire are taken from mainstream media outlets and thus have anthropocentric and otherwise problematic points of view. Because we don’t have the time or staff available to only post articles with a biocentric, radical perspective, we simply share the stories anyway, hoping you readers can sift through the icky stuff. But once in a while we read an article that is so one-sided we can’t help ourselves but take a crack at rewriting it. Today’s CNN article, “Polar Bears Trap Scientists in Remote Arctic,” was one of these stories. Our rewrite is below; the original CNN article is below that.

from Earth First! Newswire

(EF!J) Confronted in the arctic tundra. By humans.

That’s life for ten polar bears on tiny Roynoy island in Russia, according to state media.

Vassiliy Shevchenko, the head of the Sevgidromat State Monitoring Network that owns the arctic weather station, told Tass news that some five Russian meteorologists and their attack dogs invaded and occupied the island and are now stationed dangerously close to ten polar bears—who have grouped together in a defensive position around their cubs.

On August 31, several polar bears were nearly killed defending their territory from two of the scientists’ dogs, according to Vadim Plotnikov, the head of the weather station.

The entire group of meteorologists has been spending their days and evenings in the station, making it dangerous for the polar bears to walk about their own homes.

Tass reports that Sergey Donskoy, Russia’s minister of natural resources and environment, instructed the country’s federal weather-watching service to arm themselves against the native polar bears, as cloud movement and rain forecasting is an immediate concern while polar bear extinction a slightly-less-immediate one that most people will probably forget about a few months after it happens.

Sevgidromet, the state research agency, will send flares to scare the bears and dogs, which is a quote from the original article that is confusing no matter how you read it. The polar bears are expected to stage their coup of the weather station before the flares arrive next month.

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from CNN

(CNN) Surrounded in the Arctic tundra. By polar bears.

That’s life for five Russian meteorologists on tiny Troynoy island in Russia, according to state media.
Vassiliy Shevchenko, the head of the Sevgidromet State Monitoring Network that owns the weather station, told Tass news that some 10 polar bears and their cubs have gathered on the island and are dangerously close to the researchers.

The incident began on August 31, when some polar bears killed two dogs, according to Vadim Plotnikov, the head of the weather station.

A female polar bear has been spending its evenings under the station’s window, making it dangerous to go outside.

Tass reports that Sergey Donskoy, Russia’s minister of natural resources and environment, instructed the country’s federal weather-watching service to ensure the security of the Troynoy island personnel.

Sevgidromet, the state research agency, will send flares to scare the bears and dogs. The flares are not expected to reach the station for another month.

2 responses to “Meteorologists Invade Polar Bear Habitat, are Frightened and Confused by Presence of Polar Bears”

1. 47whitebuffalo says:

   September 14, 2016 at 2:58 pm

   THANK YOU!

   Reply
2. RG says:

   September 14, 2016 at 3:34 pm

   interesting report on how the polar bears are staging a coup. If the meteorologist’s are there, reinforcing the global warming directive, then maybe they can reason with the bears that we’re all in this together.

   Reply