Chilling images have emerged of polar bears who have taken over a Soviet-era weather station on Kolyuchin Island in Russia’s Chukchi Sea. Dozens of these deadly creatures now freely roam the deserted buildings, peering out from broken windows. The weather station was left abandoned in the early 1990s, following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Photographer Vadim Makhorov, who was using a drone to capture Kolyuchin’s landscape, spotted the bears. In a Facebook post, he wrote: “Bears are no strangers to the feeling of comfort and cosiness. They perceive homes as shelter. Polar bears are extremely dangerous predators, but why do they look so cute and friendly in photos?” Speaking to Reuters about his discovery, Makhorov said: “I think they see these houses as shelter from the wind, rain and other things. In general, they get along fine there.”
Posting videos of the bears on his Instagram account, the videographer shared that the artic predators weren’t the only animals his drone captured on camera.
“Not far from the houses is a bed of walrus, and about 20 bears (if not more) are actively running around on the island itself,” Makhorov shared on social media. Interesting neighbourhood!”
Kolyuchin Island has transformed from a place of human settlement to a haven for polar bears. The island’s remote location and harsh climate have made it a difficult place for humans to inhabit, but these same conditions make it an ideal habitat for Arctic wildlife.
In 1934, the Soviet Union set up a polar station on Kolyuchin Island as part of their scientific endeavours to chart the Northern Sea Route, a crucial waterway that connects the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This station played a key role in studying Arctic ecosystems, weather conditions, and marine biology, providing valuable research to Soviet and worldwide scientific knowledge.
However, following the collapse of the Soviet Union and changing research priorities, the station was abandoned in 1992. Since then, Kolyuchin Island has remained unused, with no permanent human presence established on the island.
The lack of human presence led to it rapidly becoming an unintentional wildlife sanctuary, and the most notable new residents of the island are polar bears, which have increasingly started to use the island as a temporary habitat.
The surrounding Chukchi Sea and pack ice are home to one of the world’s most significant polar bear populations, but as the ice retreats due to climate change, polar bears are being forced to adapt by seeking alternative environments.
This isn’t the first instance of bears “taking over” human settlements. Back in 2016, a group of seven polar bears laid siege to five researchers at a weather station on a Russian island in the Arctic, reports the Daily Star.
The (probably terrified) researchers had to rely on a passing ship which fired flares and deployed a helicopter to scare off the animals. It was only after the polar bears had killed one of the station’s dogs and smashed windows at the research site that they finally retreated.
While these creatures are a protected species and rarely pose a threat to humans, they can be lethal. In 2024, a worker at a remote government radar site in the Canadian Arctic was tragically killed by a pair of polar bears.