Person fined for using foghorn to wake sleeping polar bear - BBC News

Under local regulations in the region, "it is forbidden to needlessly disturb, attract or pursue a polar bear".

Image source, Getty ImagesByOlivia IrelandPublished13 August 2026A person has been fined for using a foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, a local official has said.

The incident happened earlier this month after someone sounded the horn from aboard a vessel that had been sailing in a fjord in north-western Svalbard - about 1,000km (620 miles) from the North Pole.

On Thursday, a person - who has not been named - was fined 50,000 kroner (£3,890) over the incident, the governor of the territory confirmed.

Under local regulations in the region, "it is forbidden to needlessly disturb, attract or pursue a polar bear", which was declared a protected species in Svalbard in 1972.

About 250 polar bears were counted in the archipelago during the last scientific estimate, carried out in 2015.