• About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • EEO PUBLIC FILE REPORT
  • FCC Public File
  • FCC Applications
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
Friday, March 24, 2023
WTMJ
  • Home
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Coronavirus
    • Featured Stories
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Guest Editorials
  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings
      • First Pitch
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
    • NCAA
    • Extra Points
  • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
      • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • WTMJ Nights
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Reporter’s Notebook
    • Featured Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Every Day Health
      • Fix It Show
      • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
  • Podcasts
    • WTMJ Conversations 2023: The Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast
    • The Steve Scaffidi Show
    • Jeff Wagner Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast
    • WTMJ Nights Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast
    • The Truth on WTMJ: The Podcast
    • WTMJ Conversations Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • First Pitch
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
      • Bucks Talk: The Podcast
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Featured Show Podcasts
      • The Fix-It Show Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show Podcast
      • The Accunet Mortgage and Realty Show Podcast
      • The Fox World Travel Show Podcast
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
  • Features
    • WTMJ Cares: Polar Plunge with Vitrano for Special Olympics
    • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
    • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • Wagner’s Home Improvement Showcase
    • 2023 Greater Milwaukee International Car & Truck Show
    • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
    • Every Day Health
    • Sunday Sip
  • Contests
LISTEN LIVE
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
  • Home
  • News
    • Local
    • National
    • Coronavirus
    • Featured Stories
    • Decision Wisconsin
    • Guest Editorials
  • Weather
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
    • Interactive Radar
    • Watches and Warnings
  • Traffic
    • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings
      • First Pitch
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Talk
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
    • NCAA
    • Extra Points
  • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
      • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • WTMJ Nights
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Reporter’s Notebook
    • Featured Shows
      • Accunet Mortgage & Realty Show
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
      • Drake & Associates Retirement Ready Show
      • Every Day Health
      • Fix It Show
      • Hired! The GKB Recruitment Show
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show
  • Podcasts
    • WTMJ Conversations 2023: The Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News Podcast
    • The Steve Scaffidi Show
    • Jeff Wagner Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News Podcast
    • WTMJ Nights Podcast
    • Wisconsin’s Weekend Morning News Podcast
    • The Truth on WTMJ: The Podcast
    • WTMJ Conversations Podcast
    • Milwaukee Brewers
      • First Pitch
      • Brewers Weekly Podcast
      • Brewers Extra Innings Podcast
    • Milwaukee Bucks
      • Bucks Weekly: The Podcast
      • Bucks Talk: The Podcast
    • Green Bay Packers
      • Green & Gold Podcast
    • Featured Show Podcasts
      • The Fix-It Show Podcast
      • Money Talk, The Annex Wealth Management Show Podcast
      • The Accunet Mortgage and Realty Show Podcast
      • The Fox World Travel Show Podcast
      • Creative Planning presents, Rethink Your Money with John Hagensen
  • Features
    • WTMJ Cares: Polar Plunge with Vitrano for Special Olympics
    • The Beatles & More! An England Adventure with Sandy Maxx and Journeys Connect
    • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • Wagner’s Home Improvement Showcase
    • 2023 Greater Milwaukee International Car & Truck Show
    • Annex Wealth Management Webinar
    • Every Day Health
    • Sunday Sip
  • Contests
LISTEN LIVE
No Result
View All Result
WTMJ
No Result
View All Result

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

AP News by AP News
January 18, 2023
in AP National, AP News, National
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterEmail

By MARK THIESSEN and PATRICK WHITTLE
Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — 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, the first in more than 30 years in Alaska, 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 (80 kilometers) 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.

Myomick’s 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 no runway lights at the Wales gravel air strip prevented troopers and wildlife officials from making it to Wales Tuesday after the 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, and counselors were being made available.

She said there have been no announcements for memorials for the two victims yet. “We are still in the beginning phase,” she said.

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 at four times 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 the 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 had coincided with evidence that polar bears’ use of land was increasing and that the chances of a polar bear encounter had increased.

Wales is just over 100 miles (161 kilometers) 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 (771 kilograms), but typically weigh 600 to 1,200 pounds (272–544 kilograms) and reach up to 10 feet (3 meters) in length. Females weigh 400 to 700 pounds (181-318 kilograms). 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 young bears, usually males, who are hungry all the time, or older bears who are injured or ill and having difficulty getting enough calories.

“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.

Besides being part of the bear patrol program, York said Wales has taken other measures to keep polar bears out of the community.

The bear is from a population in the Chukchi Sea that is faring well amid climate change, Derocher said. That means the attack could be the result of a bear lured by attractants such as food or garbage.

Polar bears of the southern Beaufort Sea, east of the Chukchi Sea population, are in worse shape, Derocher said.

In this case, even though there is ice in the Chukchi and northern Bering seas, the quality of that ice is not known that well. More importantly, York said they don’t know what’s going on under the ice — or what the availability of seals and other prey is for polar bears.

___

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine. Associated Press writers Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska, and Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed to this report.

___

This article has been updated to correct York’s statement that bears in Wales are expected from December through May, not July through November.

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Previous Post

Jacinda Ardern to step down as New Zealand prime minister

Next Post

Man killed, trooper shot while ‘Cop City’ protesters cleared

AP News

AP News

Stay Connected

  • 22.3k Followers
  • 1k Follower
  • 679 Subscribers

Most Popular

Southeast Wisconsin

Southeast Wisconsin facing 3-to-7 inches of snow during first weekend of Spring

March 24, 2023
Reporter’s Notebook for 3/6/21

Bezos’ rocket company pins crash on overheated engine nozzle

March 24, 2023
Reporter’s Notebook for 3/6/21

3 astronauts delayed on space station to return in September

March 24, 2023
Reporter’s Notebook for 3/6/21

Disabled Wisconsin voters say absentee law not followed

March 24, 2023
Reporter’s Notebook for 3/6/21

Judge slams lawyers for slowing jailed 1/6 defendant’s case

March 24, 2023
WTMJ

For more than 90 years, WTMJ-AM has been "Wisconsin's Radio Station".

Follow Us

Home

News

Weather

Traffic

Sports

Shows

Podcasts

Features

Careers

Contests

Recent News

Southeast Wisconsin

Southeast Wisconsin facing 3-to-7 inches of snow during first weekend of Spring

March 24, 2023
Reporter’s Notebook for 3/6/21

Bezos’ rocket company pins crash on overheated engine nozzle

March 24, 2023
  • Home
  • News
  • Weather
  • Traffic
  • Sports
  • Shows
  • Podcasts
  • Features
  • Contests

© 2022 Good Karma Brands, LLC.

  • LISTEN LIVE
  • Home
  • News
    • News
    • Local News
    • Coronavirus
    • Decision Wisconsin
  • Weather
    • Weather
    • Watches and Warnings
    • Closings and Delays
    • Flight Status
  • Traffic
  • Construction Updates
  • Sports
    • Sports
    • Green Bay Packers
    • Milwaukee Brewers
    • Milwaukee Bucks
  • Shows
    • Shows
    • Wisconsin’s Morning News
    • Steve Scaffidi
    • Jeff Wagner
    • Wisconsin’s Afternoon News
      • Spectacular Scandinavia with John Mercure and Collette
    • WTMJ Nights
    • WTMJ Conversations
    • Featured Shows
  • Podcasts
  • Features
    • Features
    • Good Karma Give Back
    • WTMJ Roundtable
  • Contests
  • Alexa
No Result
View All Result

© 2022 Good Karma Brands, LLC.