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Man Drops Gun, Manages to Outrun Polar Bear on Snowmobile in Heart-Racing Moment Caught on Camera

A man was caught on camera managing to outrun a polar bear on a snowmobile after the animal chased after him in the Arctic Circle
The person made it to the vehicle and sped away, as the animal briefly ran after him in a clip filmed by onlookers
The polar bear eventually gave up the chase and was seen walking away in the opposite direction

A man luckily had a snowmobile nearby after coming face-to-face with a polar bear in the Arctic Circle over the weekend.

On Sunday, April 27, the person noticed the animal running in his direction before seemingly firing shots in a bid to deter it in a heart-racing moment captured on camera by onlookers.

After a brief pause, the polar bear started to run toward the man in the clip, before he decided it was time to ditch the gun and escape to safety.

He then leapt onto a snowmobile and sped away in the video obtained by Newsflare. Despite initially remaining hot on the man's heels for a moment, the bear eventually gave up the chase.

Newsflare Man manages to outrun polar bear on snowmobile in the Arctic Circle

"Very brave guy!" one person behind the camera said in the video, while another added, "Damn, that guy is brave!"

After the brief chase, the polar bear sat down in the snow, looking around at their surroundings, before getting up and walking away in the opposite direction. The exact location of the incident was not immediately revealed.

Polar bears have been "spending more time ashore in more places, and for longer periods" in recent years as the "Arctic warms and the sea ice melts," according to Polar Bears International.

"This has led to an uptick in polar bear-human encounters, sometimes with tragic results," the conservation organization said on its website.

Alysa McCall, who is the director of conservation outreach and a staff scientist at Polar Bears International, previously told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) of why the animals might attack, "A healthy polar bear that's out on the sea ice is not going to have a lot of incentive to attack a human being."

Newsflare A polar bear attempting to attack a man in the Arctic Circle

As previously reported by PEOPLE, in December, a man was seriously injured in Ontario, Canada, after trying to prevent a polar bear from attacking his wife in their driveway in Fort Severn First Nation near Hudson Bay.

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McCall said at the time that polar bears are usually hunting for seals out on the ice in that area, but "when the ice breaks up, they come inland in search of food," per CBC.

"It could be that [when] this attack happened, maybe this bear was a little hungrier than usual," McCall insisted, adding that climate change meant the animals might be "coming into contact with communities and people more than they used to" due to sea ice patterns changing.

"If you're attacked by a polar bear, definitely do not play dead — that is a myth," McCall advised, according to the outlet. "Fight as long as you can."

Polar Bears International didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for a comment on the latest Arctic Circle incident.