Officials say a polar bear that killed a young mother and her baby Jan. 17 in western Alaska was likely an older animal in poor physical condition.
FILE - A walkway leading into the school in Wales, Alaska, where a 24-year-old woman and her 1-year-old son were killed in an encounter with a polar bear, Jan. 17, 2023. A polar bear that killed a young mother and her baby on Jan. 17, in western Alaska was likely an older bear in poor body condition, but officials say tests were negative for pathogens that affect the brain and cause aggressive behavior.
Standard tests conducted on available tissues for pathogens were negative for rabies, toxoplasmosis, distemper and avian influenza. Summer Myomick and her 1-year-old son, Clyde Ongtowasruk, were mauled to death Jan. 17 as they left the school in Wales, Alaska, for a short walk of about 150 yards to the town’s medical clinic.
They were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2008 and are also protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Both laws prohibit harming the bears without authorization unless necessary for human safety.
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