Person fined after using foghorn to wake sleeping polar bear

What the report says

A person has been fined in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago after using a ship’s foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear, according to BBC World News. The incident took place earlier this month in a fjord in northwestern Svalbard, a remote territory far north of mainland Norway, and was later reviewed by the local governor’s office.

BBC reported that the unnamed individual was ordered to pay 50,000 kroner, or about £3,890, on Thursday. Governor Lars Fause said the vessel passed the animal while its occupants spotted it sleeping on land, and that the foghorn caused the bear to move away. The person has accepted the fine.

Local rules in Svalbard prohibit needlessly disturbing, attracting or pursuing polar bears, which have been protected there since 1972. The archipelago is home to an estimated 250 polar bears, based on a scientific count published in 2015. The case highlights the strict wildlife protections in the region, where all traffic is expected to avoid unnecessary disturbance to animals.

BBC noted that this was not an isolated enforcement action in Svalbard: in 2024, a tourist was fined for getting too close to a walrus. The latest case underscores how authorities in the Arctic territory respond to conduct that puts protected wildlife at risk.