We left the town by the same route as the previous day, because Endalen branches off from Adventdalen. We went to look at the scenery and then returned to visit a compound where huskies are kept. Huskies get too hot if kept indoors, so they are boarded (rather as we do with horses at livery) in outdoor compounds at the edge of town. They are extraordinarily people-friendly dogs and were a delight to visit, even for someone who isn't a 'doggie person'.
Additionally we learned that these compounds have helped the recovery of the populations of eider ducks. Being ground nesting birds, they are heavily predated upon by gulls, arctic foxes and even bears in lean times. Their numbers were in steep decline. The ducks themselves have discovered that nesting close to the dog compounds is a good strategy. They nest as close as they safely can to the dog cages - sometimes only just beyond the reach of a paw through the wire - and they nest safely because the foxes dislike the smell of the dogs and stay away; the gulls don't like to come close either; and the bears don't venture into town during nesting season - on the whole, bears prefer to stay away from humans. The eider numbers have already recovered hundredfold.
First we passed the bears warning sign again.
When the cloud lifted a little, the landscape was impressive.
The huskies were gorgeous!
There is a cached video clip here of nesting eider outside the compound that I visited, which has a sign for the nesting season proclaiming itself an eider sanctuary.
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