Person fined after using foghorn to wake sleeping polar bear

A person has been fined for using a foghorn to wake a sleeping polar bear in Norway's Svalbard archipelago, a local official said.The incident happened earlier this month after someone sounded the alarm from onboard a vessel, which was sailing in a fjord in northwestern Svalbard - about 1,000 km (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.In a statement, governor Lars Fause said when the vessel sailed past the animal "its occupants are said to have spotted a polar bear sleeping on land". "A person on board then used the ship's foghorn, waking the animal, which moved to another location." The individual has agreed to pay the fine.