It appears the mother and toddler had no idea what was coming because of low visibility, troopers say. The polar bear emerged from the heavy snow squall and mauled them to death.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Summer Myomick bundled her baby against the freezing winds whipping off the Bering Sea and stepped outside into a blur of blowing snow. It was a short walk from the school where she had visited relatives to the health clinic about 150 yards away, but the young mother could hardly have seen where she was going — or the terror that was approaching.
“The polar bear was chasing them and tried to get in as well,” said Nedza, who received frantic calls about the attack in Unalakleet, about 250 miles away. “Just horrific. ... Something you never think you would ever experience.” Wales, a whaling community, is the westernmost point on the North American mainland — just 50 miles from Russia across the Bering Strait — and is home to about 150 people, almost all of them Inupiat. It’s accessible by plane and boat, including barges that deliver household goods. Winter trails provide snowmobile access to other communities and subsistence hunting grounds.
The snowstorm that camouflaged the bear, along with a lack of runway lights at Wales’ gravel air strip, prevented Alaska State Troopers from flying in an officer and a state wildlife official from Nome to investigate until Wednesday. School was canceled Wednesday so students could be with their families, and the school district flew counselors to Wales. The school planned soft openings Thursday and Friday with no classes but opportunities for students to meet with counselors, get a meal or play a game, Nedza said.
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