Pack of dogs chase away polar bears in northern Russia


This is the moment polar bears invaded a remote Arctic region of Russia - only to be chased away by a pack of dogs.

Video filmed last week (February 5) shows at least two polar bears walking in a residential area by people's houses in the night in the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, located in the Arctic Ocean.

Valentina, the filmer and a resident of Novaya Zemlya, says that she was alerted to the predators walking by her window thanks to dogs barking.

Video filmed from Valentina's first-floor apartment window shows what she believes to be a polar cub and its mother being barked at by a pack of dogs that surround them. Further video shows a polar bear running away from the chasing pack of dogs.

Such situations are becoming more frequent in the area, as Valentina told Newsflare: "Dogs here are considered as our protectors and are highly valued. Once they start barking all together and really loudly, we know that bears are somewhere close."

UK media reported this week that environmental authorities have deployed a team of specialists to the area to sedate and remove polar bears.

"Of course people are scared," says Valentina. "We need to keep on turning around every time we walk to make sure nobody's following us."

"Now the situation is not that bad - we have just several bears around. But two weeks ago it was worse, bears were invading every corner."

Valentina even described a recent incident where she went for a walk with her child and on turning around, noticed a polar bear walk out from around the corner.

Russia classes polar bears as an endangered species and shooting them is prohibited.