CORAL HARBOUR, Nunavut (AP) — Battling hypothermia, a 17-year-old hunter stranded on a floating chunk of ice shot and killed a polar bear while trapped for more than a day before being rescued Monday in the Canadian Arctic.
The teen and his 67-year-old uncle, who were polar bear hunting, were reported missing late Nov. 7, Ed Zebedee, director of the Government of Nunavut’s protection services branch, said Monday.
The snowmobile the pair were riding broke down about 11 miles from Coral Harbour, a tiny community on Nunavut’s Southampton Island in the northern part of Hudson Bay in Canada’s Arctic. As they walked toward the community to get help, they became separated. A large chunk of ice broke off, setting the teen adrift, Zebedee said.
The uncle was picked up Sunday morning. Searchers on snowmobiles located the man as he walked on the pack ice off the coast of the island. His nephew remained lost.
At one point, the teen, who was armed with a rifle, encountered three bears, an adult and two older cubs, on the same large ice pan.
“He did have to shoot the polar bear to protect himself,” Zebedee said. “There were two other bears on the ice pan but they stayed away from him so he didn’t shoot at them at all.”
The two cubs remained with the adult carcass and the teen managed to position himself as far away as he could from the remaining animals.
