Tag Archives: all-heard

They were on an Arctic expedition to be the first team to paddle 1,250 miles around the island chain. Of course, there are dangers when camping in the Arctic so they protected thier tents with an early warning system and protection. However, for Sebastian Plur Nilssen the system failed and he woke up to find a Polar bear in his tent. The bear dragged him out by his head, but Nilssen couldn't shot the bear because it had broken the shotgun in the struggle. It is legal to shot a Polar Bear in self defence, and that's what his friend Ludvig Fjeld did. Nilssen in currently in hospital recovering, but told the press the entire story of the attack. “The 23-year-old was dragged screaming from the tent, with his head clamped in the animal's jaws. The adult male bear flung the young explorer's body from side to side in an attempt to stun him, a technique typically used on its usual prey of seals. The polar bear's teeth pierced Mr Nilssen's lung as it fought for a better grip and narrowly missed a main artery in his neck. “It was so strong I could not fight, I grabbed for my shotgun and tried to shoot it but [the polar bear] had snapped [the gun] in half,” he said. “It must have been only a minute I was in his jaws but it felt like forever. “It was a big bear, at one point it stood up on its back legs with me in its mouth, I was 2.5 metres off the ground and it seemed very high.” “When I fired the first shot, the bear dropped him, but I had to fire four more to make sure it was dead. But despite his brush with death, Mr Nilssen said he was not angry at the bear, speculating that it carried out its unusual attack on humans because it was hungry.”-Yahoo. added by: Mcellie