Canine guard dogs scare off polar bear
When a polar bear, desperate for food, lumbered its way on to the coast of Bely Island to search for any food it could find, it didn’t receive a very friendly welcome.
Dogs guarding the weather station on Bely Island, just off the edge of Siberia’s Yamal Peninsula, put their own safety at risk, not to mention their lives, so that they could show their worth.
Showing no fear towards the giant opponent, who, with one swift swipe of its paw, could have destroyed them, the dogs charged towards the visitor to do their job of protecting the limited number of human residents of the area. First of all, one growling dog appeared, then another and then a third snarling dog came to join in the dispute, all growling and barking towards the polar bear.
The usually fierce polar bear didn’t quite flee from the dogs, however, it didn’t come any further after being greeted by the aggressive ‘welcoming’ party and decided it would be best if he searched for food elsewhere.
Sergey Anisimov was the man responsible for these incredible photographs, and he had been invited by the Government of Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug to the weather station. Government officials had been travelling to the area to inspect a new trading station, put up for breeders of deer. Mr Anisimov said:
“We flew to the station by helicopter. And we noticed a bear when we flew closer to the station.”
“The bear was digging into boxes of old things, probably rubbish, looking for some food. When we got out of the helicopter we noticed that the bear came closer until it was only about thirty metres from us.”
“The dogs tried to protect us and we fired a signal pistol to try and scare it away. Eventually it gave up its advance and just lay down. There were also weather station workers near us and ready with the guns to scare the bear away.”
“When we flew away the bear was still there and was watching us with sad eyes.”
