ホッキョクグマ出没　カナダ・ケベック州南東部

【モントリオールＡＦＰ＝時事】カナダのケベック州南東部で４月３０日午前、ホッキョクグマ１頭が目撃された。これほど南で出没するのは異例で、当局は住民に警戒を呼び掛けた。（写真はカナダ・ケベック州ガスペ半島のマドレーヌセンターで目撃されたホッキョクグマ。ソフィー・ボンヌビルさん提供）
　目撃者によると、現場はセントローレンス川の南岸に位置する同州ガスペ半島のマドレーヌセンター。人口約２０００人の町で、モントリオールから東に約８００キロに位置する。
　同地在住の目撃者の一人、ソフィー・ボンヌビルさんは「犬がほえて、パートナーが『クマだ、クマがいる！』と叫んだ」と述べた。
　ボンヌビルさんによると、これほど南でホッキョクグマを見たことがある町民は、野生生物保護官を含め一人もいないという。
　ボンヌビルさんは目撃情報について「みんな冗談だと思っていた」「気候変動の影響で何だって起こり得る」とＡＦＰに語った。ホッキョクグマが森に入る前に、写真を数枚撮ることができたという。
　「心配なのはクマがここに来た理由だ。地球温暖化だろうか、それとも単なる自然の間違いだろうか」 【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/05/06-15:45）

A polar bear was spotted Saturday in the Quebec region of Canada, prompting wildlife officials to warn residents of a small town stunned by this very rare appearance.
The bear -- whose species has become a symbol of the dangers of global warming -- was seen in the morning hours in Madeleine-Centre in the Gaspesia region, a peninsula along the south bank of the Saint Lawrence River, witnesses said.
As of Saturday afternoon, officials were still trying to find the animal.
The dog was barking and I heard my partner yell, 'There's a bear, there's a bear!' said Sophie Bonneville, who lives in the town of 2,000 people located 800 kilometers (500 miles) east of Montreal.
Quebec provincial police put out a tweet warning people about the bear sighting and urging them to stay indoors.
Bonneville said nobody in town had ever seen a polar bear so far south, not even wildlife officials.
People thought it was a joke, she told AFP.
How could a bear cross the ice pack, swim and make it here? Even people on the north bank have not seen such a thing, she said.
Police patrolled the region, where hiking is popular.
We went door to door to tell people to stay indoors, Quebec provincial police spokesman Stephane Tremblay told AFP. He said he had never seen a polar bear in this area, either.
With climate change, anything is possible, said Bonneville, who managed to snap a couple of photos of the bear before it wandered off into a wooded area.
What is worrisome is, why did it come here? Was it global warming? Or was it just a mistake of nature? she mused.
In Canada, polar bears -- the planet's largest land carnivores -- are listed as a vulnerable species.
A 2020 study published in Nature Climate Change said climate change could lead to their extinction as global warming causes the gradual melting of the Arctic ice pack.