Russian Meteorologists Rescued After Trapped by Polar Bears

The polar bears typically leave the Arctic island in the summer but appeared to be stranded due to the melting ice

After two weeks of being surrounded by polar bears, five meteorologists were rescued from their weather station on a remote Russian island late Tuesday night.

A research vessel frightened about a dozen polar bears away from the area -- about 2,800 miles from Moscow, on the Izvestiy TSIK Islands -- with its helicopter.

Though the meteorologists had a year's worth of food, they had run out of signal flares to scare away the bears.

Some of the bears were camped right outside of the remote station and had eaten the meteorologists' guard dog.

The rescuers, with Russia's state-run oil firm Rosneft, restocked the station with signal flares and puppies, which will be used to deter bears when they are larger.

The polar bears typically leave the Arctic island in the summer but appeared to be stranded due to the melting ice, in what the supervisor of the station called an indication of climate change.

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