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Polar bear in southern Canada: proof photo by a local resident
Photo:
SOPHIE BONNEVILLE / AFP
A polar bear has been spotted far from its range in southern Canada.
According to the authorities and eyewitness reports, the animal appeared on Saturday morning in the small village of Madeleine-Centre near the Saint Lawrence River.
“Our dog barked and I heard my husband call out, 'There's a bear!
There's a bear!‹«, reported Sophie Bonneville from the village of 2,000 people, 800 kilometers north-east of Montréal.
Quebec provincial police urged caution.
Madeleine-Centre residents should stay indoors and not go outside.
Bonneville said people initially thought she was kidding.
However, she was able to take several evidence photos of the animal before it disappeared into the forest.
'Nobody's seen anything like it here.
How can the bear get across the pack ice to the river, swim across it and come here?” Even on the other side of the St. Lawrence River, polar bears would otherwise not be sighted.
It could be a result of climate change, she speculated.
According to a study published in the journal Nature Climate Change in 2020, climate change could lead to polar bears becoming almost extinct as their natural habitat – the pack ice – continues to thaw.
kfr/AFP