A mother polar bear plays with two of her three cubs at the Moscow Zoo on March 22, 2012.
Want to work in the great outdoors? Comfortable around bears? Norway may have the job for you.
The governor’s office on The Svalbard Islands –located in the Arctic Ocean, halfway between Norway and the North Pole – is looking for a polar bear spotter. The role involves standing guard and warning research teams working on the island about approaching polar bears. The Svalbard Islands boast a polar bear population of 3,000, while human inhabitants on the island only number 2,400.
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Requirements for the position — which begins July 8th when temperatures can reach a balmy 42 degrees — include outdoor experience, keen eyesight, and firearm expertise, although it is unlikely you will have to use a gun, so long as you have a loud voice to scare off bears.
The Svalbard archipelago hosts one of the only populations of polar bears that is still growing. Elsewhere around the world, polar bear populations have been hard hit by global warming with their habitats rapidly decreasing or disappearing altogether as Arctic ice melts. In fact, no other animal seems to be such a direct victim of climate change, which is one reason why the polar bear has emerged as the symbol of climate change.
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