Here's a summary of recent polar bear attacks:

* **copyright, 2024:** A man in Fort Severn First Nation, Ontario, jumped on a polar bear to protect his wife from an attack. The bear charged at the woman while the couple was searching for their dogs near their home. The man sustained serious, but non-life-threatening injuries to his arms and legs before a neighbor fatally shot the bear. Police are patrolling the area to ensure no other bears are present[2][3].
* **copyright, 2024:** Two polar bears fatally attacked a worker at a remote radar facility on Breevort Island, Nunavut. Fellow employees responded, killing one of the bears. The victim was an employee of Nasittuq Corporation, a logistics firm managing radar defense installations[4].
* **Alaska, 2023:** A polar bear killed a woman and her one-year-old child in an Alaskan village[4].
* **Svalbard, Norway, 2011:** A starving polar bear attacked a group of university students on an expedition, killing a 17-year-old student and injuring four others. The bear was shot dead by one of the expedition leaders[1].

**Factors Contributing to Attacks:**

* **Nutritional Stress:** Adult male polar bears experiencing nutritional stress are the most likely to pose threats to human safety[3][5].
* **Climate Change:** Diminishing sea ice may lead to increased encounters with humans as bears search for food inland[2][3].
* **Proximity:** Increasing human activity in the Arctic region combined with more bears spending time on land increases the risk of dangerous encounters[5].

**Prevention and Response:**

* **Fighting Back:** If attacked, do website not play dead; fight back as long as possible[2].
* **Precautions:** Expeditions should use trip wires, lookouts, click here or guard dogs to protect camps[1].

Citations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Svalbard_polar_bear_attack
[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewx20xrgj5o
[3] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/animal-news/man-leapt-polar-bear-protect-wife-rare-attack-copyright-rcna183101
[4] https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgq20qd59yyo
[5] https://polarbearsinternational.org/news-media/articles/polar-bear-attacks-causes-prevention/
[6] https://www.backpacker.com/survival/surviving-animal-attacks/i-survived-a-polar-bear-attack/
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America