Hungry polar bear samples new kind of sub sandwich
TASTY? Bruin chews on the rudder of the U.S. submarine Connecticut.


By DOUG O'HARRA
Anchorage Daily News

(Published: May 30, 2003)
A polar bear gnawed on the rudder of a U.S. submarine and then attacked it after the sub surfaced in the ice pack during maneuvers between the North Pole and Alaska this spring, the U.S. Navy reported last week.

The submarine Connecticut, a new Seawolf-class sub, had partly surfaced with its sail and rudder sticking through the ice on April 27.

"When an officer looked around outside via the periscope, he noted that his sub was being stalked by a hostile polar bear," the Navy reported on its news Web site.

In a series of pictures captured on the periscope's camera, the bear apparently chewed on the rudder, then batted it around. The Navy reported the damage was minor. "It wasn't designed as a polar bear snack, but that's how life is sometimes," the story said.

Polar bears are federally protected marine mammals, but biologists with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage hadn't heard about this encounter, said spokeswoman Catherine Pearson. "It would be very unusual for polar bears to be north of the 80th parallel, as there are very few places with open water."