State inspectors of the Russian Arctic National Park Vadim Zakharyin, Vladimir Alsufiev and Oleg Valkov spoke about the unusual story of the Umka polar bear cub, which they witnessed.
Let us remind you that the inspectors of the Russian Arctic are now completing the field season in the southern cluster of the national park, at Cape Zhelaniya. It is planned that in the second half of October the polar explorers will return to the mainland.
The story of a bear cub, who was lost and was looking for his family, was told by the head of the Cape Zhelaniya field base, senior state inspector Vadim Zakharyin.
“It all started in early September, an adolescent bear started coming to our house. At that time, biologists of the A.N. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution were still working with us on Novaya Zemlya - says Vadim Zakharyin, - Scientists immediately determined the age of the adolescent bear, and were sure that he was lost: at this age bears do not wander alone.
The inspectors had seen this cub before, along with a female bear and another adolescent bear, much further south, at Cape Serebryanikov, while patrolling the area. Why Umka, as the polar explorers called the lost bear, left the family, they do not know. The inspectors went to take the cub under their protection, because adult males constantly tried to attack the young bear.
“Not far from our base, a dead beluga whale was thrown ashore, and the bear cub was feeding on it,” says the head of the polar station. “However, several adult bears attempted to feed on it along with Umka. Once we even had to run to save the cub, to scare away the other bears from Umka, who began to attack him."
Umka's story was concluded with a happy reunion with his mother.
“We woke up one morning, looked out the window to check on our Umka, and saw that next to him on the shore there was a large female with another bear cub,” says Oleg Valkov, the state inspector of the Russian Artic National Park. We do not know whether it was the mother is our bear cub, or just a passing female with a young of the year, but the three of them began to stick together and it was evident that they were getting used to each other. "
Now all three bears live together, and even try pay a visit the inspectors. “We are glad that Umka found a family, we leave him with confidence that everything will work out for him,” summed up Vadim Zakharyin.
Photo V. Zakharyin