Let sleeping bears lie — or pay up!
A boat operator near Norway was hit with a fine of over $5,000 for blowing a foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear, officials said Thursday.
The vessel was sailing off the coast of the Svalbard archipelago, around 620 miles from the North Pole, earlier this month when the operator disturbed the animal and caused it to move, according to CBS News.
“Its occupants are said to have spotted a polar bear sleeping on land,” Lars Fause, governor of the territory, said in a statement.
“A person on board then used the ship’s foghorn, waking the animal, which moved to another location,” he added.
The governor’s office ordered the un-bear-able offender to pay the hefty fine, totaling $5,255, which the unidentified person agreed to do.
Under local rules, “It is forbidden to needlessly disturb, attract or pursue a polar bear,” which was declared a protected species in Svalbard in 1972.
Melting ice has threatened polar bears’ habitats in recent years, but scientists reported in January that bears in the area are thriving and even gaining weight, according to the outlet.
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