MOSCOW, February 3. /TASS Correspondent Ulyana Lavtsevich/. Ryrkaypiy is a village in Chukotka. The name means "climbing walrus". The village has a school, a kindergarten, hospital, and shops. From time to time, social networks send out posts like "Attention! A polar bear in the village!" This is a call to action of Bear Patrol, which has been protecting locals from the "Masters of the Arctic" for many years. Next moment, a snowmobile is rushing into the icy gloom to make sure the villagers or the Red Book predators, who approach people, do not suffer from that meeting.
Bear Patrol
Bear Patrol has been launched in six Arctic regions - the Arkhangelsk, Krasnoyarsk, Yakutia, Yamalo-Nenets, Nenets and Chukotka. Head of Russia’s environment watchdog, Rosprirodnadzor, Svetlana Radionova, initiated the project, and further on President Vladimir Putin supported it.
The project's task is to cut the number of conflict situations between polar bears and humans and to preserve the rare animal. The number of such situations has been steadily growing lately. The project events' organizer is the Clean Arctic Organization. The project was launched in 2004.
Living next to predators
Valery Kalyarakht, an experienced sea hunter, lives in Ryrkaypiy. When not busy, he travels around the native village when everyone is still asleep, so that kids could safely get to schools and kindergartens, and adults - to work. Meeting a dangerous predator with sharp teeth and claws is nothing extraordinary there, and kids from very early childhood are taught how to behave in such a case.
- I was born in Ryrkaypiy, and then grew up on the Wrangel Island, which is also called the "cradle of polar bears", - Valery said. - In the past, only our parents instructed us how to behave when meeting with a predator, and these days we go to schools, run lessons, lectures to avoid conflict situations, where any party may die. We ask the adults: buy a regular whistle for the children. The predators that get shy and disoriented in the human presence are very afraid of this sharp piercing sound.
Historically, the Chukchi villages of Ryrkaypiy, Billings, and Cape Schmidt are located on the polar bears' migration route, and the Arctic's rightful "masters" often stop by the people. Environment specialists explain this atypical behavior saying predators search for food in populated areas due to the lack of ice on the coast caused by climate change, and due to the human impact on the Arctic ecosystem. It was a huge influx of predators into Ryrkaypiy, which ended with the attack on a girl, that led to the idea to organize Bear Patrol.
In 2019, the Ryrkaypiy village was besieged by polar bears for almost a month: several dozen predators literally surrounded the village and would not go into the sea due to the lack of ice.
- I was on a business trip at that time, but the village administration pleaded me to return to Ryrkaypiy to repel the predators, - Valery said. - The government organized a helicopter quite quickly, I joined in, but it was also a chance that helped: journalists in bright jumpsuits crowded the area, they were clicking camera shutters so hard that the bears could not stand such close attention and were gradually moving further away from the village.
Even a cellophane bag sound may scare away a polar bear, which can weigh up to 700 kg, he added.
- This is exactly what we tell our kids: whenever you see a bear, start growling, screaming, raise your hands up, rustle the bag, backpack, and squeal, - Valery said. - As for running away, we say - do so only if you know for sure that there is a place for you to hide. Polar bears, unlike brown bears, cannot run too fast, but anyway they are also dangerous predators and they may follow the instinct of pursuit.
Normally, in mid-winter, Bear Patrols in Chukotka are not busy: predators usually follow the drifting ice, approaching the coast, in autumn and in very early winter, and afterwards they may be away for weeks.
- During a season, up to 200 bears may pass by us, and we have to interact with many of them, he said.
People are just visitors
Tatiana Minenko, a Chukchi living in Ryrkaypiy, ran into a polar bear when she was walking with a stroller in which her newborn daughter was sleeping peacefully. It is not easy for her to speak about how it happened. Everything "was like in slow motion," she explained.
- I'm walking with my daughter and see a polar bear rushing towards me from the central square. I freeze, stand in front of the stroller, and it rushes by so close that I can feel its hot breath, - she said. - All of a sudden, someone's strong hands grasp me out of this stupor: I literally lost consciousness and came to my senses only near the house entrance. It turned out that was some passerby who rescued me and my daughter, and I even did not manage to ask his name. He practically dragged me to safety, and I still shiver when thinking about those moments.
Many years have passed since that meeting, and now Tatiana Minenko leads Bear Patrol in Chukotka's village of Ryrkaypiy. The "masters of the Arctic" would listen to her, she speaks to them affectionately but confidently, and only very rarely would she use the "hunter's signal".
- I would talk to them. I say, "Walk away! This is not your home! Your home is not here, and here you may get hurt," - she said, revealing the communication secret. - Every bear is different, just like people are: one would run away quickly, and another needs to be persuaded. These predators follow walruses very closely, so when there are many walruses on the coast, then bears roam here. I can remember the time where there was no ice for several years in a row, and back then we had all of them here - both walruses and bears. And now, for several years, the ice has been in the sea for the whole summer, and this is good for everyone: both bears and walruses.
When asked if it's scary to look into the eyes of wild animals, Tatiana replied saying - only very stupid people have no fear. She always has a rocket launcher on her, though uses it only rarely - rather voice and growl.
- One day, I was mopping the staircase and heard someone shouting: "Bear! Bear!" I look - there it is spinning around a dumpster. I was swinging the mop to make it leave, - Tatiana said. - I must have looked so funny: a woman cursing in Chukchi and Russian, growling, with a mop in hands is chasing a half-a-ton bear around a power pole. The bear could not stand the humiliation and chose to skip away towards the sea.
Tatiana and the Bear Patrol team are invited to Chukotka schools to tell kids about the experience gained over years.
- The main thing I teach children is to understand that bears must be treated with respect. Ryrkaypiy's every resident must remember that these are the people who came and live on their territory. Natives here are bears, people are just visitors, - she said.
Support for Bear Patrols
Chukotka's authorities every year allocate grants that are used to buy protective equipment, fuels and lubricants, life and health insurance programs, clothing, and special equipment for Bear Patrol, the regional government told TASS.