A boy and a woman were mauled to death by a polar bear on Tuesday in Alaska, authorities said. State troopers released a statement confirming that they had received reports of a polar bear entering the remote western village of Wales, where the beast “chased several residents.” “The bear fatally attacked an adult female and juvenile male,” the statement continued, adding that the bear “was shot and killed by a local resident as it attacked the pair.” The identities of the victims have not yet been released as authorities are attempting to notify next of kin. While human attacks are extremely rare, polar bear encounters with humans have become more likely due to the loss of sea ice, forcing bears to spend more time on land, Alaska Nannut Co-Management Council executive director Joseph Jessup McDermott told the Anchorage Daily News. “Over the past few decades, it’s been very, very rare for those types of attacks to occur,” McDermott said. “It’s incredibly tragic it happened.”
