Polar Bear Emerges From Blizzard to Kill Mother and Toddler Outside Alaska School

A young mother and her toddler were killed by a polar bear that came out of a blinding snowstorm in the western Alaska village of Wales, in the first fatal polar bear attack in Alaska in 30 years. Alaska is the only U.S. state where the animals live.

Summer Myomick, 24, had wrapped up her 1-year-old son, Clyde Ongtowasruk, against the bitter wind coming off the Bering Sea. They left Kingikmiut School, where they had been visiting relatives, to walk about 150 yards to the health clinic. They had barely gotten past the front of the building on Tuesday when the bear burst from the swirling snow and mauled them.

Inside the school, Principal Dawn Hendrickson ordered a lockdown and closed the blinds so children could not see what was happening outside the entrance. Several employees and community members went out with shovels and tried to drive the bear off. The mauling paused only when the animal turned on them, and they retreated indoors. According to Susan Nedza, chief administrator of the Bering Strait School District, Hendrickson slammed the door in the face of the charging bear, possibly saving lives. "The polar bear was chasing them and tried to get in as well," Nedza said.

Wales has no law enforcement, so a call for help went out to the community. An unidentified person arrived with a gun and killed the bear while it was still attacking Myomick and her son. Nedza, who was in Unalakleet, about 250 miles away, received frantic calls about the attack. She called it "just horrific" and "something you never think you would ever experience."

Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told The Associated Press on Thursday that the mother and child appear to have had no warning because visibility was so poor. According to a GoFundMe page set up for the family, they were living at the school temporarily while electrical problems in their home were repaired. The post asked the public to respect the family's privacy during their grief.

The same storm that hid the bear, along with the lack of lights on the village's gravel airstrip, kept troopers from flying an officer and a state wildlife official from Nome to investigate until Wednesday. Samples from the bear were collected for the state veterinarian. The bodies of Myomick and her son were flown to Nome and are to be sent on to the State Medical Examiner's Office in Anchorage.

Why the bear attacked is unknown. Geoff York, senior director of conservation at Polar Bear International, said polar bears view humans as prey. A 2019 U.S. Geological Survey study by Alaska scientists found that changes in sea ice habitat coincided with evidence of increased polar bear use of land and a greater chance of encounters with people.

Wales is a whaling community of about 150 people, almost all of them Inupiat, and is the westernmost point of the North American mainland, roughly 50 miles from Russia across the Bering Strait. It can be reached by plane and boat, and winter trails link it by snowmobile to other communities and hunting grounds. Like many rural Alaska Native schools, Kingikmiut School also serves as a community center.

Classes were cancelled Wednesday so students could be with their families, and the district flew counselors to the village. Nedza said the school planned soft openings on Thursday and Friday, with no classes but chances for students to see counselors, eat a meal or play games.

Polar bears are the largest bear species, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Males typically weigh 600 to 1,200 pounds, and females 400 to 700 pounds. They mainly eat seals but also prey on walruses and beluga whales. Listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act since 2008, they are also protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and both laws bar harming them without authorization unless necessary for human safety.