Lame, exhausted and confused, the young male polar bear is far from his natural habitat to the north.

A dead male grey whale that was found floating between Sidney Island and James Island on Thursday has been towed to Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Institute of Ocean Sciences in Sidney for a necropsy.

The species has been spotted in the Inside Passage before. But sightings are infrequent. A whale found recently near Juneau is thought to have died from a vessel strike.

A sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus) found beached on the east side of Lynn Canal had trauma consistent with being hit by a boat propeller.

"Looked normal at first then we started to butcher it found some unusual stuff on the insides."

The Marine Mammal Center and California Academy of Sciences are reporting cause of death for one.

Thinning sea ice has driven more than 50 polar bears ashore on an Arctic archipelago in northern Russia, causing chaos for the local population.

Public health officials confirmed that four Nome residents had been hospitalized in early January with preliminary results pointing to poising from foodborne type E botulism from an aged beluga flipper.

The third such bite in two years prompted a police warning in the Aleutian Islands town.

Jim Hollandsworth of Arctic Village said he encountered the bear in early January. He said the bear had tried to get into his cabin about 32 kilometers from the village.

Sea lions have been pushed to come closer town because of marine pollution and over fishing, and now they are eating the scraps from the fish processing plant.

Officials are warning residents in Roddickton, Newfoundland to keep their distance from seals that have wandered into town. According to resident Brendon Fitzpatrick, some have crawled 6 to 8 km away from the ocean.