This appearance of the animal far from its usual territory is probably related to global warming, according to a specialist. The bear had not been located as of Saturday afternoon.
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Posted on 05/01/2022 10:34 AM Updated on 05/01/2022 11:00 AM
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In the village of Madeleine-Centre we are not used to this type of meeting. However, it was a polar bear that died on Saturday, April 30th.
“The dog barked and I heard my spouse yell, ‘There’s a bear! There’s a bear!'” said Sophie Bonneville, who lives a few months a year in this village of about 2,000 people, more than 800 km northeast of Montreal. The Sûreté du Québec, the province’s police force, later warned residents on Twitter: “A polar bear has been sighted in the Madeleine-Centre area. The police secure the crime scene. (…) We ask local residents to stay protected and not to venture outside.”
“Nobody’s ever seen that,” added Sophie Bonneville, people thought it was a joke.” “It’s very unusual for a species this northern to be so far from its southern range limit,” confirmed the biologist and marine ecology researcher , Lyne Morissette, told AFP, which she says “has something to do with the current climatic disturbances.” A 2020 study published in Nature Climate Change found that global warming could lead to virtual extinction of this emblematic animal, as the Ice floe, their habitat, is gradually disappearing.
After the animal passed the village, it made its way into the forest and was still free on Saturday afternoon. Police secured the area on Saturday, and wildlife management and protection officials were searching for his whereabouts.