On Russia’s far-flung Kolyuchin Island, where the Arctic winds bite and the sea ice groans, a group of squatters has moved in. Not the human kind. These new tenants are furry, white, and decidedly less worried about paying rent.
Drone footage captured by travel blogger Vadim Makhorov shows polar bears strolling through the ruins of an abandoned Soviet weather station, peering out of shattered windows as though they were sizing up the neighbourhood. One particularly adventurous bear even attempted to swipe Makhorov’s drone out of the sky, perhaps mistaking it for a very noisy seagull, or maybe just testing if Amazon Prime delivers this far north.
The weather station itself was deserted back in the early 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and since then it has stood as a ghost of human ambition. Now it’s been repurposed, not by architects or planners, but by the Arctic’s most resourceful predators. To the polar bears, those empty corridors are windbreaks, the broken doors are chew toys, and the windows are lookout points for spotting seals—or perhaps more drones.
There’s something wonderfully ironic in seeing nature reclaim what humans once declared important, only to abandon. Where we saw industry and data, the bears see a handy bit of indoor real estate.
And yet, beneath the humour of a polar bear poking its nose out of a Soviet-era office, there’s a sharper edge. These bears aren’t just sightseeing. With sea ice shrinking and hunting grounds shifting, they’re adapting in real time. To them, this ghost station is more than a curiosity—it’s shelter in a changing world.
So next time you think of polar bears, don’t just imagine them perched elegantly on an iceberg. Picture them instead rummaging through old filing cabinets, redecorating Soviet ruins, and chasing drones for sport. Because sometimes, the polar bear necessities mean making the best of whatever humans leave behind.
Copyright © Tom Kane September 2025
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