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IGLULIK
Natar Ungalaaq, who starred in the movie Atanarjuat, shot a polar bear in self-defense on Oct. 9 in Iglulik.

The actor said he and his wife were spending the night at their cabin when he was awoken by the sound of a polar bear scraping a piece of seal skin drying on plywood around 2:30 a.m.

Ungalaaq said he put the plywood right on the doorway so if the polar bear came back he would hear it, and shortly afterward he heard the bear's footprints on his steps.

"I can easily hear the claws of that bear and we can hear the mumbling of that bear, more likely growling, towards our window," he said. "A few seconds later, the bear walked through our left side of the window and peeked in."

Ungalaaq told his wife there was a bear outside and he wanted to react before the bear comes in. In a split second, he said, the bear tried to push the front window. Ungalaaq said the bear noticed him as he was trying to get into his porch.

"That's the time the bear broke the first layer of the window. That's the time I really have to react to shoot it," he said. "I shot it right on the neck. It was really one foot off my (gun) barrel."

He said he shared the meat with the community.

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