This is the usual time for polar bear visits to northern Newfoundland but this one had a sad ending. The bear that came ashore at Deep Cove (where some of the action in EATEN takes place, near the artist studio pictured in the CTV report shown above) on Fogo Island (map below) had to be shot by RCMP due to fears for public safety.

Maps and quotes from the CTV report below:

Here’s part of the CTV story on the incident:

“FOGO ISLAND, N.L. — Warning shots and a lot of shouting did nothing to scare off a polar bear as it lumbered toward RCMP officers and a small crowd of onlookers on Fogo Island, an RCMP officer said Monday.

“He was walking towards me on all fours,” said Cpl. Shaun Coady. “It was very close. If it decided to charge me, it was within easy striking range.

The fully grown bear was brought down with a .308-calibre rifle as it came out of the water at the fish plant in Deep Bay, Coady said.

About a quarter of the community’s 100 residents had come for a look as news of the bear spread. Police cleared the area before firing, and the incident was over in a few minutes, Coady said.

Melissa Waterman had called the Mounties after doing a double-take around 9:30 a.m. local time as she looked out the window of a home near the fish plant.

“I said, ‘There’s something floating in the water.’ It looked like a piece of wood to me at first. Then I said, ‘No. There’s a head on that!’

“He was just down there swimming around.”

Waterman said the bear seemed interested in seal pelts tied to the Deep Bay wharf.”

Find Deep Bay on the map of Fogo below:

Read the rest of the story (2 May 2016) here. CBC report from earlier in the day here.

Book sales of EATEN are doing very well in Newfoundland and Labrador so far – and when life gives a sense of fictional terror, interest is bound to increase.

Sea ice concentration map for 2 May 2016 below, from the Canadian Ice Service: