About a dozen polar bears have besieged a weather station located on Russia's remote Troynoy island in the Kara Sea, the station's head says.
TASS news agency quoted Vadim Plotnikov as saying on September 12 that the weather station's crew had to stop some of its meteorological observations after 10 adult bears, including four female bears with cubs, killed one of the station's guard dogs on August 31.
The bears have remained near the station, where staff members have used flare guns to scare them off. A vessel delivering cargo to Arctic weather stations reaches the island only once a month.
Polar bears, the world's largest land carnivores, are globally enlisted as endangered species. They often approach Artic weather stations looking for food.
Polar bear hunting has been banned in Russia since Soviet times.