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Teen Survives Night Stranded With Polar Bears

Canadian youth rescued from Arctic ice floe

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 10, 2009 5:00 AM CST

(Newser) – A 17-year-old Inuit youth is in a local hospital with hypothermia after spending over 24 hours stranded on a drifting ice floe in Canada's Hudson Bay with three polar bears. The teen became separated from his uncle as the two walked back toward a settlement after their snowmobile broke down during a hunting trip, the Toronto Star reports.

A search and rescue flight eventually spotted the teen on a large chunk of floating ice, where he had shot one polar bear in self-defense and moved as far away from the other two as possible. Rescuers parachuted down to perform first aid. "They had to bodysurf through some of the smaller bits of ice and water and get themselves over to the young man," a rescue co-ordinator told CBC.

A photo taken by Canada Froces from the air shows a teenage hunter trapped on an ice floe in Hudson Bay.
A photo taken by Canada Froces from the air shows a teenage hunter trapped on an ice floe in Hudson Bay.   (AP Photo/The Canadian Press)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 13 comments
riffran
Nov 11, 2009 7:03 AM CST
Polar Bears What is the world's largest bear? The polar bear is generally considered the largest bear in the world. With average weight of 900 to 1500 pounds, the polar bear is the world's largest species of bear. The brown bear, averaging 500 to 900 pounds a close second. The biggest polar bear ever recorded was shot in Alaska in 1960 weighing a grizzly 2,210 pounds (1002 kilograms) and 11 feet 11 inches in height.........Good googamooga...polar or grizz..thats a lotta fricken bear
chicken
Nov 11, 2009 5:30 AM CST
^obviously sarcasm, no need for thumbs down!
Shannonals
Nov 11, 2009 5:14 AM CST
A very brave and lucky lad.

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