>
A mother and her one-year-old son killed by a polar bear in a remote Alaskan whaling town have been identified.
Summer Myomic, 24, and her baby boy Clyde Ongtowasruk were leaving a school in the Welsh seaside community on Tuesday when they were attacked.
The bear, which had already gone after several residents, was shot dead while he was mutilating mother and son.
Myomick was also the mother of a three-year-old girl, Avatia, who was left in the care of her father Clyde Sr.
Wales is a remote community in the far west of North America and about 50 miles from Russia. Her mother and son were the first people to be killed by a polar bear in Alaska since 1990.
Summer Myomic (left), 24, and her one-year-old son were fatally mauled by a polar bear in a remote Alaskan town. She is pictured here with the baby’s father, Clyde Sr. (right)
One-year-old Clyde Ongtowasruk was leaving a local school with his mother when they were both attacked.
The attack occurred as Myomic and Ongtowasruk were leaving the Kingikmiut School at around 2:30 p.m. on January 17, according to Alaska State Troopers.
The incident took place right next to the school entrance, which the bear had reportedly tried to enter. An official with the Bering Strait School District, Susan R. Nedza, said Anchorage Daily News that when the polar bear was seen, students and teachers rushed inside.
“The bear tried to come in with them,” Nedza said, but the school’s principal, Dawn Hendrickson, “shut the door” to prevent it from entering. “It’s terrifying,” she added. It’s not something you’re prepared for.
Teachers at the school put up blinds over the windows before notifying the community that the bear would have to be dealt with. He was later killed, but as of January 18 authorities had not identified who shot.
Wales is home to a predominantly Inupiaq community of about 150 people, who organize patrols between July and early November, when bears are expected.
The school is only a few hundred meters from the shoreline of the Bering Strait, which freezes over in winter. When this happens, it is normal for polar bears to head out onto the ice. to hunt seals and walruses. Therefore, this week’s attack was unexpected for the time of year.
The attack occurred as Myomic and Ongtowasruk were leaving the Kingikmiut School at around 2:30 p.m. on January 17, according to Alaska State Troopers. The path to the school was photographed two days before the attack.
Wales is a remote whaling community at the western tip of North America and about 50 miles from Russia.
During the winter, the Bering Strait freezes over and polar bears are expected to head out onto the ice, where they can hunt for seals and walruses. Therefore, this attack was unexpected for the time of year.
Kingikmiut School is only a few hundred meters from the shoreline of the Bering Strait, which freezes over in the winter months. The school is shown here in the summer.
Myomic divided his time between the larger city of St. Michael and Wales. “It’s very, very sad for Saint Michael right now and for Wales,” said Virginia Washington, Saint Michael’s city manager.
‘She was a very sweet lady. She was very responsible,’ Washington said.
Classes at the school were canceled Wednesday and made available to student counselors. It will remain open only in a limited capacity for the remainder of the week.
Once the soldiers and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game learned of the attack, they attempted to travel to Wales, but were unable to do so due to poor conditions and a lack of runway lights at the airfield north of the village, they said.
Winds of up to 50 miles per hour meant visibility was next to zero, but a state trooper later arrived to begin an investigation. They said they would not comment until the bear’s remains were examined.
The bodies of Myomic and Ongtowasruk were transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy, the troops said.
The bodies of Myomic (right) and Ongtowasruk (left) were transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy, the soldiers said.
Ongtowasruk (pictured) and her mother Myomic divide their time between the larger city of St. Michael and Wales.
When the last fatal attack in Alaska occurred in 1990, a starving polar bear killed a man in a North Slope village of Point Lay, several hundred miles north of Wales.
Three years later, a polar bear entered through the window of a US Air Force radar station, also on the North Slope, seriously injuring a 55-year-old mechanic, who survived.
Nonetheless, violent interactions between polar bears and humans remain rare, said Polar Bears International senior director of conservation Geoff York. access point.
“In this case, the bear had chased several people, which indicates that it is a bear that is desperate,” York said.
“Polar bears should be on the ice successfully finding natural prey – seals, small walruses and other animals in that region – so it remains to be seen what this particular bear was doing on land,” he said.
“This was the time of year where I think if I lived in Wales my guard would be down,” he added. ‘As things are changing, we may have to change our attitudes.’