Two polar bears killed a worker at a remote military radar station in the Canadian Arctic last week, spurring an investigation into the circumstances of the attack.
The Nasittuq Corporation, which operates Northern radar sites for the Canadian government, issued a press release confirming the death of one of its “valued employees” in an Aug. 8 attack on Brevoort Island in Nunavut.
“We are working closely with local authorities and regulatory agencies to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding this incident,” the company said, adding that one of the two bears has been put down.
Nasittuq has not released the name of the employee killed in the attack, citing privacy and respect for the victim’s family as the primary reasons.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends, and colleagues affected by this loss,” the company added. “Nasittuq Corporation is providing support to the family of the deceased during this difficult time. Additionally, we are offering counseling services to all employees affected by this.”
Nasittuq has a long history in Canada’s Arctic, dating back to the 1990s when its founding partners first won a Government of Canada contract to operate and maintain the North Warning System (NWS).
The site of the accident, Brevoort Island, is the location of BAF-3, one of the earliest sites of the NWS. The long-range radar site was designed for early-warning air defence, replacing the former Distance Early Warning Line in 1988. The joint Canadian-American radar system provides aerospace surveillance.
Brevoort Island is a small, uninhabited island located off the eastern coast of Baffin Island in the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut.
Nunavut and the Northwest Territories are home to nearly two-thirds of the global polar bear population. Ninety percent of Canada’s roughly 16,000 polar bears can be found living in the two territories, according to the Nunavut environment ministry.
The polar bear is the biggest of its species and is the world’s largest land carnivore with the ability to consume up to 100 pounds of food in one meal, the Nature Conservancy of Canada says. While some males can weigh upward of 1,700 pounds, the average size ranges from 600 to 1,200 pounds and eight to 10 feet in length.
As the largest bear in the world, the polar bear is widely considered the most dangerous of the species and one of the most aggressive apex predators on the planet.
Although attacks on humans are rare, they do happen.
The last fatal attack in North America occurred in 2023, when a woman and her young son were killed in the remote town of Wales, Alaska.
An attack was averted in March of this year when police and local hunters in Northern Ontario shot and killed a polar bear after the animal showed stalking behavior near a schoolyard in Weenusk First Nation, a remote community in Peawanuck.
