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High above the Arctic Circle, hundreds of polar bears are about to become the
route on an island.
The ice flows are melting, leaving the bears high and dry.
To capture this phenomenon on film, two men will have to live surrounded
by the world's biggest land carnival.
And when an orphan blows in on a storm, it too faces a struggle for
survival.
Until the ice returns, only the toughest will make it through a stay
in Polar Bear Alcatraz.
The cold beauty of the Russian Arctic envelops Wrangel Island.
Winter temperatures can plunge to as low as minus 35 Celsius.
The ice of the Chukchi and East Siberian seas hems in the island for
most of the year.
At its peak, 14 million square kilometers of ice covers the whole of
the Arctic Ocean.
Perfect for those adapted to the big chill, like polar bears and their
favorite prey ring seals, whose perhaps almost 50%, blah-blah.
This is the land of the Chukchi, Alaska, population of polar bears.
They favor Wrangel like no other place in the Arctic.
These bears wander thousands of kilometers between Northwestern Alaska
and Eastern Siberia.
Lying west of the Bering Strait a North of Siberia, Wrangel is a vital
toehold for wildlife in a frozen landscape.
Of the 22,000 or so polar bears left in the world, the highest density of
all could be found right here.
Even so, scientists believe that these species could be treading on thin ice.
Climate change is advancing the melting of the polar ice sheet so fast
that polar bears could be heading for extinction this century.
With so many females giving birth on Wrangel, the island is vital for their
survival.
Filmmaker Arne Naevra has spent years living alongside polar bears in
Svalbard.
He is now coming to Wrangel to capture its unique story.
I'm really excited.
I heard so much about this place from my friend Nikita, but this will be the
first time I see the strange polar bear phenomenon with my own eyes.
He's headed for Cape Blossom on the island's southwestern tip.
One of the biggest polar bear hotspots of all.
Dozens of them congregate on this peninsula.
For most of the year, the sea around Wrangel is almost completely frozen.
But during the short summer, the pack ice melts.
Some years, fragments of sea ice remain and the bears continue hunting
on the flows away from land.
Not for nothing is its scientific name Ursus Maritimus, "the sea bear."
But every few years, water cuts off the island entirely.
For bear's quarterly edges of the receding ice, Wrangel becomes a vital
staging post.
But stopping here can mean getting stuck for weeks.
Given that scientists have tracked polar bear swimming for up to 161
kilometers.
Why do they opt for this stint of incarceration?
Perhaps like shipwrecked mariners, the bears become stranded, forced to wait
for rescue, Arne too has come prepare to maroon himself in Wrangel.
More than 5,000 kilometers from his family home in Norway, his pulse
quickens with the first site of Cape Blossom.
Where one extraordinary man Nikita Ovsyanikov and his dog Nanook are
waiting to welcome him.
As Arne greets his old friend, he quickly spots my trust who play a big
part in this assignment.
This has been Nikita's home from home for nearly two decades.
No one knows the polar bears of Wrangel like Nikita Ovasyanikov.
And no one quite knows when or how this expedition will end.
Nikita lays down the ground rules.
Here this year have problem situations-- situation with bears, so
please follow my instructions precisely.
The problem is not so much the bears are trapped again, after all that's
why both men are here.
This is one of those years when there is open water as far as the eye can
see.
But the Pacific walruses are pretty hard to get.
Normally Cape Blossom is a walrus rookery.
The stakes are high as this is the biggest land predator of all.
The men will never be able to let their guard down and over curious or
hungry bear could create a dangerous situation.
The boundaries must be enforced, but Nikita refuses to carry a gun.
And even though, Arne is used to filming near polar bears, he's
impressed by Nikita's personal light touch.
The sheer numbers of bears here may be a clear and present danger, but they
also offer unparalleled advantages for the eager cameraman.
The ice has been steadily retreating for the past few weeks.
Arne notices the same mother and her two cubs pass by Nikita's cabin
everyday and they wait at the tip of the Cape where they gather on the
beach in search of food.
But there's little scent of any prey in the air, the bears are truly high
and dry.
But there's no time to take in the scenery and suddenly out of the blue
Arne gets his first close encounter on Wrangel and Nikita captures it on the
film.
A rather skinny adult male strays too close.
Arne wants to get the bear's picture, but he also needs to push it away.
He's going to have to be prepared for more of these encounters, if he's to
survive in Nikita's neighborhood.
Despite being given the inuit name for polar bear, the dog Nanook is in
danger of fanning the flames.
Bears are often active at night, and with tensions between humans and
animals escalating, Nikita and Arne must be extremely vigilant.
Will spikes and bars be enough to see the two men through the night?
In spite of their defenses, an intruder breaks in.
What a way to wake up to the middle of the night.
Sleeping in a dark room, of course, and hear this loud sound.
And the Nikita was on his feet in a second or so.
I tried to grab my camera to film this event, but I was too late.
When I actually came out here, he had given the pepper spray, and that was
that.
It's not good to be in the same room as a polar bear, that's for sure.
But I think she was after raw meat rather than us.
Nikita wastes no time securing the damage.
In the morning, a young male is on the prowl.
He's not big enough to be last night's visitor though.
Arne gives this newcomer an inuit name for ice, Seekoo.
This one is probably also drawn by the smell of reindeer meat in Nikita's
larder.
Time for Arne to meet his neighbors on his own towns.
He wants to see for himself how they've been coping with the summer of
little or no food far from the ice.
It will be several weeks before the ice returns, not a good omen for the
bears or the men.
As their natural prey disappears, human habitations maybe well worth a
second look, no harm in trying at least.
On the beach, there's that female again with her two cubs leaving the
cave.
Probably not a good day's hunting and things can only get worse.
Nikita and Arne watch her with interest.
Polar bears are solitary except during times of vital social bonding, such as
when bringing up cubs.
Males do not raise their offspring.
It's the mothers that provide all the parental care.
A small cub offers few calories, but adult bears do sometimes kill infants,
perhaps to wipe out competitors' genes and force the female to mate again.
The polar bear is a heavyweight champion.
And despite its massive bulk, it can charge at speeds of up to 40
kilometers per hour.
Taken by this little family, Arne decides to give the mother a nickname,
Ursula after Ursus Maritimus.
He watches as she leads her cubs for an old hunting ground.
Walrus carcasses are often still here from previous years, when the polar
bears gorged on the fat and discarded the rest of the bodies.
Luckily, Ursula has up to 11 centimeters of blubber under her own
fur to see her through these lean times.
Cubs normally stick with their mother for about 2 1/2 years.
Their survival on the ice depends on her, if only it would return.
Because this year the walruses are staying away from the beach when
normally they hold themselves out of the water.
They have left shore, seemingly content to let their predators pick
over the remains of the dead.
Perhaps the number of stranded bears is just too much of a deterrent.
Nikita uses a disused ships navigation tower as shelter during his long hours
head counting.
In past years, these shores would have offered plenty of fresh walrus blubber
for more than 100 polar bears, Nikita knows he's counted them.
But very few of the carcasses are here from polar bear kills.
Most of these victims were crushed to death in their panic to get back into
the water when the colony was spooked.
By rights the bear should be gorging on fresh blubber right now, leaving
the meat behind for the snowy owls.
Arne wanders how normally solitary nomads go have it without friction.
Could one reason be the need to conserve energy?
With such a huge built, they can expend far more energy than most
mammals.
Hence their preference for still hunting, sitting over ice holes
waiting for seal to pop up for air better than taking the plunge to open
water.
Polar bears manage to catch their prey less than 2% of the time.
But these odds may still be better than trying to land an uncooperative
reindeer.
And walrus that won't come out of the water.
With only meager scraps from years gone by, Nikita's shack with its full
larder is a beacon in a land of want.
The bear's prospects of a fresh meal diminish, but it could be a lot worse.
At least Nikita protects them from poachers.
Although his and Arne's own survival must come first.
But so far Nikita has had around a thousand encounters with polar bears
without any harm to himself or the bears.
His unique policing technique pays off.
Nikita uses a psychological approach.
Polar bears are highly inquisitive animals with a keen ability to learn
new things.
In spite of keeping the bears at arm's length, he lives as close as is
humanly possible to them.
Without his daring intimacy, he couldn't examine year after year the
changes that take place in their behavior.
His work is a crucial contribution to our understanding of the polar bears
chances of survival in the face of climate change.
And after so many years living alongside polar bears, Nikita knows
how they operate.
Research shows that in almost all cases, polar bears attacking people
were either provoked or desperate for food.
People walking or running away can also trigger the bear's instincts to
give chase to a potentially prey animal.
Here come Seekoo again.
The juvenile male is always too nosy for his own good.
I think he is just curious about what's going on here, but also he is
checking campground and hoping to find some remains.
So I have to push him away and not to let him get used for staying with us.
Nanook though has someone else in his sights.
Is this Ursula hanging around again?
Nanook is a hardy Samoyed, but he's barely on the right side of the thin
divide between life and death.
If this is the female that Arne calls Ursula, then something is wrong.
She had two cubs.
A female would never leave a cub behind unless something had happened.
An adult maybe able to take life on Cape Blossom in its stride, the cubs
face a daunting future alone.
Around here nothing is certain.
Despite 25 years in the field, Wrangel has some new lessons for Arne.
Standing on its rear legs, this fully grown colossus could look an elephant
in the eye.
And it's hardly likely to be intimidated by Arne's makeshift
defenses.
After the stick, the pepper spray into the bear's face is the last line of
defense if he's unfortunate enough to get that close.
But after three weeks on Nikita's self-defense course, Arne is giving
the right signals to the bear at the same time he's doing his day job,
getting up close and personal with an animal he loves and respects.
This male has obviously been to Nikita's classes, too, and it seems to
sense a fight would not be worth its while.
As the autumn draws on, the walruses are still refusing to hold on to the
beach, bad news for the polar bear, good news for the walrus.
It wasn't always this way.
For years, Nikita has been recording these two titans of the Arctic going
head to head.
Normally tens of thousands of Pacific walruses pull themselves out of the
water to rest here.
To take on prey this size, the polar bear needs not only strong teeth, but
a very large stomach.
And that's precisely what it's got for those big meals that makeup for leaner
It can devour up to 45 kilos of blubber in one sitting... not this time.
It can devour up to 45 kilos of blubber in one sitting... not this time.
A full-grown female walrus merely rolls away.
Having shoot perhaps smaller prey back into the water, what's left, how about
a sick female?
But the walrus barely raises her whisker and is rewarded with the
warmest bear hug of all.
A walrus can weigh three times more than a polar bear and is encased in
the layer of blubbering skin that's over 15 centimeters thick.
The usual walrus bounty in ice free years perhaps explains why the bears
opt for stint on Wrangel.
An empty beach and high winds coming in off the sea puts an end to the days
filming.
Arne wonders whether the bears need to see pack ice in the sea before they
risk taking to the water.
But it's not very well understood how bears know whether the ice is falling.
The magic of an Arctic morning, a cameraman's dream and a new twist to
his story.
A cub blown in on the storm, its mother is nowhere to be seen.
Less than a year old, Nikita knows it cannot fend for itself and is probably
hungry.
The cub's identity and why it was separated from its mother, a mystery
as the men are keen to unravel.
Nikita heads for the other side of the island looking for clues.
Will he find a female missing her cub?
In such a desperate environment, neither Nikita nor Arne jump to
conclusions.
Arne will scout the area nearer the cabin.
Nikita soon finds more distressing signs of hunger, then a more chilling
sight.
The body of what appears to be a female, a black *** is clearly
visible.
Could it be Ursula?
And if so, how did she die?
Has the situation on Wrangel Island come to cannibalism.
The lone cub is still at base camp.
Is this its dead mother?
Carcasses of the dead are always eaten by the living, but it's not clear how
the female died.
Unaware of Nikita's discovery, Arne pushes on.
A beluga whale swims with its dark grey calf off the point.
A snowy owl scours the shoreline for lemming prey.
The owls at least have wings and don't rely on the ice to escape.
Close to extinction in its native Norway, an Arctic fox sniffs for
scraps of carrion under the snow.
These animals trying to find what they need to survive before the winter sets
in.
Crabs blown in by the storm are a bonus.
Arne is an expert in filming in these conditions and he won't risk
hyperthermia.
He takes shelter in Nikita's cabin at the navigation tower.
Incredibly the cub has followed Arne all the way from base camp.
Arne wonders why young wild cub would seem to try and attach itself to a
human.
Hungry, still?
I know that you are not able to catch any seals alone, but try to follow the
adult.
It's not easy.
On the other side of the island, Nikita scours for more clues.
Could the dead bear he found be the cub's mother?
With the cub safe, Arne takes the opportunity to capture the evening
lights.
Over the next few weeks, the cub stays close and the cameras keep rolling.
The men's sympathy for the young bear grows.
But they're anxious not to let it become dependant on them, even though
the mystery about its mother may never be solved before the ice reclaims the
island.
The elements move in obscure ways in high Arctic.
Here at the North Pole, the atmosphere conjures up these celestial northern
lights.
Hallucinating and beautiful as they are, the solar winds that create them
are dangerous.
Were it not for the earth's atmosphere, life on our planet would
be impossible.
They are a restless and disquieting phenomenon for those troubled by
events on the ground.
Arne's assignment has proved every bit as challenging as he thought.
After a month's filming and writing and with winter on the horizon, he's
concerned now that how it will all end for the bears and themselves.
Nothing can be taken for granted on Wrangel.
Even the simple daily rituals.
The bathroom is only a short walk and with the infamous stick and a Nanook
on sentry duty, Arne has covered all the bases.
But Seekoo gives Nanook the slip.
Rude cracks in the door can sometimes save your life.
Seekoo's outwardly and daring curiosity feeds a try for survival.
Arne could charge the bear and assert his authority over the impotent
youngster.
But time is on Seekoo's side.
Why is it the bears always seem to have the edge?
Nikita is on hand to help, now he's in no hurry.
Let the cameras record this for posterity.
A good family laugh back home in Norway.
But Nikita knows that ultimately it's no laughing matter.
Because the polar bear can easily get through this door if they want to.
You must remember, we are living in the middle of the polar bear country.
Nikita's got Seekoo's number.
He understands very well the language of threat and he is cautious, all
polar bears are cautious, so they don't risk to get involved in
situations where they can get hurt.
So they just, from the very childhood, they learn to respect power and they
understand flood this place and they avoid risk for themselves.
So that's why it is possible and in most cases, easy to manage
interactions with them.
This my friend is very curious to come back so I should give him a lesson.
Arne has to admit that without Nikita and his stick, it would not have been
quite so easy.
Even Nanook makes up for letting his guard down.
If only life on Wrangel Island were always so entertaining.
Much of the time is spent on daily chores but another storm held in the
onset of winter reminds Arne he must save every precious moment even at the
out house.
This time the problem isn't so much getting out safely but getting in.
For the bears their time too is running out.
Adults won't starve here as long as the ice returns... nor is cold the
problem.
With their thick layer of blubber and an insulating coat of dense fur even
heat seeking infrared technology struggles to detect them in the snow.
Despite having the same survival gear, cubs are far more vulnerable.
So, you pay me visit, do you?
You want reindeer meat from our store?
This make life difficult for me, too, you know.
You are a wild creature, and I'm not supposed to give you any food.
But I know what you think.
You think that these rules are not made for small polar-bear cubs.
I could agree in that.
I'm not supposed to, eat the fare.
That's my problem.
Oh, but you are hungry, I know.
With a heavy heart, Arne encourages the cub to leave.
If it gets used to humans, it could be in for a troubled life, that's if it
makes it.
Four to six out of every 10 cubs die in their first year from starvation,
predation, and accidents.
Nanook and the cub keep their distance.
The dog tucks into his dinner.
All in very poor taste for the little cub.
Time could be running out.
Arne too must get off the island before winter and 24 hour darkness
prevents his own rescue.
It's bad news from the mainland.
The helicopter scheduled to collect Arne next week is grounded
indefinitely due to bad weather.
I can't help being a little bit frustrated and I might very well be
stuck here until next spring.
Arne's already been Russia for 3 months.
But is the tide now turning for the bears.
Do they feel the ice coming with the winter air?
Arne thinks they do.
The men are still keen not to interfere with nature, but the remains
of a reindeer killed for their larder gives the opportunistic cub a lucky
break.
Even bears this young are tough.
Despite the number of Arctic foxes around, the cub will probably have its
fill.
The
cub probably did manage to stand its ground.
Arne's inspection finds a few bear prints.
Hopes of finding the cub's mother fade.
It was 6 weeks ago that the female Arne called Ursula was last seen with
her two cubs.
Then one day the sight of a female with fresh meat in his jaws leads to a
new clue.
And tiny pores bring tears to even the toughest of men.
Could this dead youngster be Ursula's cub?
Having already found the dead female, the men can't help but wonder.
Whatever the identity of the unlucky cub, it was probably alone.
Without her mother to protect it, a cub is vulnerable to starvation or
attack.
Even if the dead bears they found aren't Ursula and her cub, what is
clear is that starvation claims many lives on Wrangel.
And even the mighty polar bear is not immune.
Polar bears have been meant to eat the flesh of their own kind.
This cub sticks close to its mother.
She'll put up a vigorous offense if provoked by another bear.
But there is something more powerful even than hunger in the air, something
that could save every bear on the island.
Winter has arrived and the ice terrain is back.
A polar bear runs to meet the ice that signals rescue of the island.
Winds and waves push newly formed ice irresistibly towards land.
A solitary seal heralds the end of a two month fast for the bears of
Wrangel Island.
And what about Arne's little orphan?
What will a lone cub make of the big freeze?
Adults have seen it all before.
They know the ice will free them for a winter of hunting.
The permanent ice cap to the north is 50 meters thick in places and these
ice flows are broken off from its edges.
The pack ice is what the bears have been waiting for.
But may be not this one, unless Arne can convince it otherwise.
The men have no idea where this little cub came from and why it attached
itself to them?
But this could now be Arne's last chance to say goodbye.
So, you're getting close.
No, no, not my boot.
You're checking me out, are you?
I think you actually are asking for contact, physical contact.
What a situation.
I wonder how many people in the world have had this close contact with a
polar-bear cub.
Try to be independent now.
We have to leave you very soon anyway.
Known as frazil ice, its crystals freeze into thin film of grease ice,
strong enough to support a sea bird but not a bear.
It won't be long till the flows thicken to a depth of 2 or 3 meters.
This summer has given Nikita valuable new data.
Starvation becomes more common in times of open sea when the ice is
marginal and stormy seas exhaust bears that attempt to hunt.
Staying marooned on Wrangel may offer the path of this resistance.
Once the ice is thick enough, the bears will start living en masse.
With only a few hours of daylight now, they'll need to be prepared to keep
going in the dark.
A few now take the first tentative steps towards freedom.
Grooming is essential.
A soiled and matted coat offers poor insulation in water
The orphan follow suit, a good sign.
Time to hitch a ride for some.
And with giant paws for snowshoes, the ice holds up well for others.
But this bear spreads it weight over the fragile surface.
Arne has never before seen a bear dragging itself across the ice like a
seal.
Arne's favorite Arctic foxes are back for a last appearance.
Trust him to get as close as humanly possible.
He'll give this shot pride of place back home in Norway.
But sadly not this one, such are the cruel vagaries of life in the high
Arctic even for the wily fox.
As the bears leave, Arne and Nikita ready themselves for their own
departure.
Arne can't believe his eyes.
Go on, you can make it.
The men are overjoyed to see the cub taking its own tentative steps towards
the ice.
Staying close to adult bears, it may be able to feed off their leftovers
until it's big enough to hunt alone.
And seeing a mother with two cubs far out on the ice, Arne hopes Ursula made
it to freedom, too.
Joined in a common cause, Arne and Nikita will leave Wrangel with their
friendship strengthened.
And they will take with them the mystery of a little cub with no
mother.
A young orphan that against all odds has shown it was tough enough to
survive an uncertain start to life.