Frozen Feuds

Question: Norway’s Svalbard archipelago has passed some unusual laws due to its remote location high in the Arctic. What popular pet is prohibited in Svalbard?

Answer: Cats

Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago midway between mainland Norway and the geographic North Pole, is an untouched Arctic wilderness of deep fjords, towering mountains, and landscapes sculpted by ancient glaciers. Remote and breathtakingly beautiful, it’s a magical ice-covered land where polar bears outnumber people and the Northern Lights shimmer against the night sky. It’s really no surprise that Svalbard has been enchanting explorers and travelers for centuries, since it’s unlike anywhere else on Earth.

But if you’re considering a visit to Svalbard, don’t even think about bringing Fluffy with you.

Svalbard’s unique location so high up in the Arctic necessitated the creation of several rather peculiar laws. One of them is to prohibit cats. To protect sensitive birdlife (millions of migratory birds fill the cliffs of Svalbard each year), absolutely no cats are allowed anywhere in the archipelago—although a rumor did circulate several years ago that someone was able to smuggle a solo cat into Svalbard. They had registered it as a fox.

Guns are fine, though. In fact, it is against the law not to own a gun in Svalbard. Due to the threat of polar bears, a 2012 law made it mandatory that anyone traveling outside of a settlement must carry a firearm. Many people have heard that it’s against the law to die in Svalbard, which is absurd (really, how can you control where someone dies?). You just can’t be buried in Svalbard, due to the permafrost.

A nice place to retire—and the kids will never find you

With immigration such a hot-button, it’s refreshing to learn that no place is more welcoming to foreigners than Svalbard. Out of a total population of under 3,000, people from 50 different countries reside in Svalbard—making it perhaps the most culturally diverse place on the planet. Svalbard’s relaxed stance on immigration means that basically anyone can live and work here. No visa or residency permit is required, either—just show up!

Perhaps you’re thinking, OK, but what about the crime rate? Believe it or not, there is virtually no crime in Svalbard. Except for a rare bar fight, the only serious crime in memory occurred in Longyearbyen in 2018, when there was an armed robbery at the local bank—but the offender was caught immediately and banished to mainland Norway. The incident was such an anomaly for Svalbard, however, it made headlines across northern Europe. So, personal safety isn’t a concern in Svalbard. Oh wait, except for those darn polar bears …

Islands in the "Gulf" Stream

Dutch explorer Willem Barents is credited with discovering Svalbard in 1596, naming the entire island chain "Spitsbergen" (Dutch for "sharp mountains"). But many believe 12th-century Norsemen got there first, referring to the islands as "Svalbard" (or "cold shores" in Old Norse). The largest—and only inhabited—island of the archipelago is now called Spitsbergen, which contains Svalbard’s main settlement, Longyearbyen. This quirky frontier settlement was founded by American John Longyear, who established a small mining operation here in 1906.

Svalbard is located farther north than even the northernmost settlement in Greenland—just 814 miles from the North Pole. At that latitude, Svalbard should be permanently locked in by ice and bone-chillingly cold throughout the year—yet it’s not. Because the archipelago sits right on top of the Gulf Stream, the waters around the southern and western coasts of Svalbard are relatively free of ice. And those warmer waters pushed up by the Gulf Stream give Svalbard a surprisingly moderate climate. The average winter temperatures hover around 5°F and typical summer days in Svalbard are in the low 40sF—not exactly shorts and sandals weather, but far warmer than other regions so high up in the Arctic.

Svalbard consists of nine main islands and several smaller outlying islands. The total land area of all the islands is about 24,000 square miles. More than half of Svalbard’s land mass—and, as mentioned, all of its human population—belong to Spitsbergen, which is by far the largest of the islands. There are technically four settlements on Spitsbergen (the four most northern settlements in the world), but one is a scientific research community and another is a Russian mining town that was abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The vast majority of Spitsbergen’s population is centered in the town of Longyearbyen.

Ice, Ice baby …

Even with the warming currents of the Gulf Stream, almost two-thirds of Svalbard is permanently covered in ice. But all that frozen tundra doesn’t seem to bother the remarkable diversity of wildlife who make their home in and around Svalbard. And if watching calving glaciers crash into the sea is your thing, you’ll love it here. Svalbard is home to more than 2,000 glaciers.

As we mentioned, it’s also polar bear heaven here. With an estimated population of 3,000 across the archipelago, Svalbard is one of the best places in the world to witness these powerful carnivores in their natural setting. Most live year-round on the islands and some even float by on great chunks of passing drift ice.

One of the most popular four-legged residents of Svalbard is a small species of reindeer, fittingly called the Svalbard reindeer. There are about 10,000 of them scattered through the archipelago. There are also countless species of seabirds like eiders, kittiwakes, and terns who come to the cliffs of Svalbard to breed—often accompanied by Arctic foxes who patrol the base of the cliffs hoping to get an easy meal from chicks falling out of the nest. The waters surrounding Svalbard teem with marine mammals, including walruses lounging in the shallow bays and several species of seals. There are also about a dozen whale species in the area, including pods of beluga whales and narwhals, sometimes known as the unicorn of the sea. Blue whales, the largest animal on earth, have been known to stop by for a visit as well.

A few more fascinating facts about the Svalbard archipelago

• I’ll take my chances with the sharks—Svalbard is a fossil hunter’s paradise, with rocks containing all manner of marine creatures, primitive fish, and plants that once lived in the Lapetus Ocean. In 2008, researchers in Svalbard excavated the 150-million-year-old Jurassic fossil of one of the largest sea carnivores on Earth—known as Predator X.


• Let there be light—Svalbard is located so far north that you don’t have to wait until dark to view the Northern Lights. The shimmering display is often visible during the day as well.


• I’m putting it in the vault, Jerry—Spitsbergen is home to the Global Seed Vault (also known as the Doomsday Vault). Buried deep in the permafrost, this repository is meant to protect the world’s crops in seed form in the event of global catastrophe.


• I’ll be back when the streetlights come on—From mid-April to August, the sun doesn’t set at all in Svalbard—that’s five months of daylight. The trade-off is winter in Svalbard—three months of polar nights when the sun never rises.


• Now boarding for the North Pole—Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, along with Italian pilot Umberto Nobile and several others, departed from Svalbard on a daring flight by airship over the Arctic Ocean to the North Pole—making Amundsen the first to reach both the South and North poles. The original mast from Amundsen’s airship can be viewed in the settlement of Ny-Ålesund on Spitsbergen.


• But what do they do for Christmas?—Don’t bother unpacking the Xmas ornaments, because there are no trees in Svalbard. Due to its short summers and cold, dark winters, it is not possible for any trees to grow here. In fact, not much of anything grows—mostly just algae, mosses, and lichens in the ice-free areas.


• Take off the shoes or get the boot—You might notice a big pile of shoes off to the side of the door in hotels and other buildings in Svalbard, a reminder that it’s customary to remove your own. The tradition dates back to Longyearbyen’s days as a mining settlement—but now it just helps to keep the floors clean and snow-free.


• Now where did I leave those keys? With so few roads and so much ice, snowmobiles are the preferred method of transportation in Svalbard. Not only are there more polar bears than people, there are more snowmobiles than people, too.


• Born and raised anywhere but here—It’s extremely unlikely you’ll ever meet anyone who was born in Svalbard. Along with no burials allowed here, you’re also not allowed to give birth here. Because of Svalbard’s remote location, two weeks before their due date, women must go to mainland Norway to have their baby.

Attempt a full circumnavigation of the archipelago of Svalbard—and the chance to see polar bears—during New! Svalbard Circumnavigation: An Arctic Expedition.