Mother, 1-year-old son killed in Alaska polar bear attack

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A polar bear chased several residents around a tiny, isolated Alaska Native whaling village, killing a mother and her 1-year-old son in an extremely rare attack before another community member shot and killed the bear, authorities said.

The fatal mauling happened Tuesday near the school in Wales, an isolated Bering Strait coastal community located on the westernmost tip of the North American mainland — about 50 miles from Russia — that is no stranger to coexisting with polar bears.

Summer Myomick of Saint Michael and her son, Clyde Ongtowasruk, were killed in the attack, Alaska State Troopers said in a statement.

Her parents declined interviews with The Associated Press when reached Wednesday at their home.

“It’s very, very sad for Saint Michael right now, and Wales,” said Virginia Washington, the Saint Michael city administrator. She said Myomick split time between the two communities.

“She was a very sweet lady, she was very responsible,” Washington said.

Like many far-flung Alaska villages, the predominantly Inupiaq community of roughly 150 people in Wales has organized patrols when the bears are expected in town, from roughly December to May, said Geoff York, the senior director of conservation at Polar Bear International. The last fatal polar bear encounter in Alaska was in 1990.

Poor weather and a lack of runway lights at the Wales gravel air strip prevented troopers and wildlife officials from making it to Wales on Tuesday after the polar bear attack. Attempts were being made again Wednesday.

When asked to describe the mood in Wales on Wednesday, Dawn Hendrickson, the school principal, called it “traumatic.” Classes were cancelled a day after the fatal attack. “The students are with their families,” Hendrickson said. Counselors were being made available to students.

It’s unclear if this attack was related to climate change, but it’s consistent with what is expected as the Arctic continues to warm four times faster than the rest of the Earth, changing the ecosystem in ways that are still not fully understood, York said.

However, this particular bear is a member of a population that is doing fairly well, said Andrew Derocher, a professor of biological sciences at University of Alberta and an expert on polar bears.

Alaska scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in 2019 found changes in sea ice habitat coincided with evidence that polar bears’ use of land was increasing and that the chances of a polar bear encounter increased.

Wales is just over 100 miles northwest of Nome. The community is accessible by plane and boats, including barges that deliver household goods. Winter trails provide access on snowmobiles to other communities and to subsistence hunting grounds. ATVs are used for non-winter hunting and fishing trips.

Polar bears are the largest bear species, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Males can weigh more than 1,700 pounds, but typically weigh 600 to 1,200 pounds and reach up to 10 feet in length. Females weigh 400 to 700 pounds. Polar bears generally feed on seals but also prey on walruses and beluga whales.

Polar bears were listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 2008. They are also protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Both laws prohibit harming the animals without authorization, unless necessary for human safety.

Polar bears are at the top of the food chain, and see humans as a food source, York said. Fatal polar bear encounters usually involve male bears who are hungry all the time, or older bears who are injured or ill and having difficulty getting enough calories, he wrote in a report.

“Both of those bear types are more likely to take risks, like we saw here in Wales,” York said.

Unlike brown or black bears, polar bears do not hibernate in the winter. Only pregnant females enter snow dens, and that’s only for reproduction.

All the other polar bears are out, typically on sea ice where their prey is available year-round.

The Alaska Nannut Co-Management Council, which was created to represent “the collective Alaska Native voice in polar bear co-management,” on its website says polar bears near or entering villages represent ongoing safety concerns for communities within polar bear territory.

Joseph Jessup McDermott, executive director of the Alaska Nannut Co-Management Council, which represents tribes that have hunted polar bears for subsistence, said the bear patrol in Wales “is not currently active” because “it essentially lost what funding it had.”

The organization has been working with the World Wildlife Fund and other partners to restore the patrol program, McDermott said.