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50,000 kroner fine for waking a polar bear in Svalbard

A man has been fined in Svalbard for waking a sleeping polar bear. Disturbing animals is punishable under Norwegian law.

13 August 2026Tagblick Newsdesk

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Archive photo: 50,000 kroner fine for waking a polar bear in Svalbard — Archive photoPhoto: AWeith · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

A person has been fined 50,000 Norwegian kroner (€4,550) on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard. The allegation is that they woke a sleeping polar bear with a ship's foghorn. This information was disclosed on Thursday by the Governor of the Arctic archipelago.

After the incident, the polar bear reportedly fled. In Norway, unnecessary disturbance of animals is legally punishable in order to protect wildlife.

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