Two Nunavut hunters survived a polar attack and one of their companions was killed. The encounter started when a mother polar bear and her cub went to their camp and attacked them.
Icy ordeal
According to one of the hunters named Leo Lijangiag, age 38, they were having a morning tea together with his two other companions Laurent Uttak and Darryl Kaunak when they noticed the animals. One of them went inside the tent grab a rifle and fired in the air just to scare the bear away. But the bear were not scared and continued attacking them. The mother bear bit the head of Uttak, and ran after Kaunak who was running away and mauled him. The other hunters shot the mother bear and her cub and they both died. The two other hunters immediately provided initial first aid on Kaunak but were not revived due to his severe injuries. The two men just covered the remains of Kaunak in a tarp or a tarpaulin. In the following days, they just stayed and watched over the dead body of their friend waiting to be rescued, and some more bears continued to circle their camp. Lijangiag again shot some of the bears and killed them. According to him he will take all criminal responsibility for every bear that we will kill. This is our way of survival. They transferred to the cab of their boat until they were rescued by search helicopter from the icebreaker CCGS Louise St-Laurent after 3 days. The two surviving Nunavut hunters suffered minor injuries and were immediately provided first aid and eventually brought to the hospital for further treatment.
Before the incident the three Nunavut hunters left the Naujaat, by boat two days earlier to hunt for caribou and narwhal. Naujaat is a small community of about 1,080 people living on the shores of Hudson Bay
According to the Naujaat administrator, Robert Hedley, stated in news that it was the second fatal attack in Nunavut this season. The community is grieving for the death of Nautak. The leaders are planning for solutions in preventing animal attacks in the future. According to news, that there were about five bears were killed, but the exact number is not clear.
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Learn how to help by enrolling in a first aid course and for more information, check out these sources:
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