Polar Bear Swims 200 Miles Shot Dead For Its Efforts

A polar bear that swam more than 200 miles in near-freezing waters to reach Iceland was shot on arrival in case it posed a threat to humans.

The bear, thought to be the first to reach the country in at least 15 years, was killed after local police claimed it was a danger to humans, triggering an outcry from animal lovers. Police claimed it was not possible to sedate the bear.

The operation to kill the animal was captured on film.
The adult male, weighing 250kg, was presumed to have swum some 200 miles from Greenland, or from a distant chunk of Arctic ice, to Skagafjordur in northern Iceland.
“There was fog up in the hills and we took the decision to kill the bear before it could disappear into the fog,” said the police spokesman Petur Bjornsson.

Iceland’s environment minister, Thorunn Sveinbjarnardottir, gave the green light for police to shoot the bear because the correct tranquiliser would have taken 24 hours to be flown in, the Icelandic news channel Visir.is reported.

Sveinbjarnardottir’s account was disputed by the chief vet in the town of Blönduó, Egill Steingrímsson, who said he had the drugs necessary to immobilise the bear in the boot of his car. “If the narcotics gun would have been sent by plane, it would have arrived within an hour,” he said. “They could keep tabs on the bear for that long.”
Steingrímsson also criticised police for not closing a mountain road where people congregated after hearing news of the bear. “There were around 50 to 60 people there watching. The police did not have many options when the bear ran down the hill, approaching the crowd,” Steingrimsson said. “I’m very unsatisfied that the police did not try to catch it alive and did not close the road.”

The oldest record of polar bears being sighted in Iceland is from 890, 16 years after the first settlers arrived. The last visit was in 1993, when sailors saw a bear swimming off the coast of Strandir. It was also killed.
Polar bears were frequently tamed during the middle ages, but since then no bear has been captured alive in Iceland. Receding North Pole ice is diminishing their hunting and mating grounds and jeopardising their survival.

A spokesman for PolarWorld, a German group dedicated to the preservation of the polar regions and the creatures which inhabit it, called the bear’s death “an avoidable tragedy … another great day for mankind”.

Friday, June 6 2008

POLAR BEAR KILLS CHILD IN ICELAND

Reuters - Karin Bjornsdottir, the eleven-year-old daughter of a local farmer, was attacked and killed by a polar bear outside her home near Skagafjordur in northern Iceland. Polar Bears are not native to Iceland and have not been seen there since the middle ages.

The animal swam ashore early Friday, possibly from Greenland, over 200 miles distant. Authorities tracked the animal while waiting for a tranquilizer gun to arrive. But the bear eluded them and dissappeared into fog covered hills. Six hours later Karin’s father called authorities to say that his daughter had been mauled by a bear while tending the family garden. She died before medical help could arrive…

Cops have nightmares about being responsible for a story like this… cut ‘em some slack. We weren’t there.
Until we achieve a very different consensus about the value of natural life vs the value of human life, there will continue to be tragedies like this.

I’m sorry, but the ignorance about polar bears and the danger they pose to human settlements astounds me. Polar bears are one of only three land species that will actively hunt humans for food. Let me repeat myself:
Polar bears are one of only three land species that will actively hunt humans for food.

The other two are certain tiger and lion breeds.
If a polar bear is threatening a human settlement it cannot be drugged and dragged away - much like a porcupine. Both polar bears and porcupines will come back if you do not kill them. I get so tired of city slickers who know nothing about wildlife commenting on things they know nothing about.

You all probably think that deer hunting is savage too? Well, if you don’t want TB infecting cattle herds you best keep the deer population down through hunting. Predators will threaten those self-same herds if they are not kept under certain numbers. Nature is not your friend or enemy. It is what it is.

As an Icelander, much better informed by local media about the details of this story, I’m appalled at the one-sided prejudiced reaction I see here.
With the exception of a user calling himself “jjohnjj” and a few others, commentators all cry bloody murder, some even calling for violent action against those responsible for shooting the bear.

I agree that posing over the dead bear in a “trophy-shot” was a stupid idea, but these guys nevertheless were only doing their duty, neutralizing a potentially mortal threat to people.

There were no farms in immediate danger, but it has turned out that there were campers holidaying 2-3 miles in the exact direction the hungry bear would have headed into the fog. They were not armed, because there’s no need - Iceland’s biggest native predators are foxes and minks. Nobody expects to run into a 250-kg hungry polar bear, let alone up in the mountains in mid-summer!

I’m all for protecting the environment, endangared species in particular. But not if it directly puts human lives at risk!

…og þessu:

…it’s really strange to see my tiny country getting all this negative attention it is getting now, for – of all things – cops shooting a single stray polar bear in order to keep people safe! As I said earlier, I’m all for protecting endangered animals. But it’s disgusting to see this almost hysterical reaction to a story of a single animal being regrettably killed, while the constant stories of worldwide degragation and wholesale slaughter of human beings sometimes only draw a few responses, some of them more self-serving than symphatetic.

In which country do you think there have been more polar bears shot in the last few years?;
Yours (to which polar bears are native to the almost uninhabited north, and are constantly monitored by scientists (and police where needed), and people are aware of their presence. And further south, how about your “Mounties” or the Park Rangers in the USA? Do you really think they've never been forced to shoot a grizzly bear when human lives were in danger?

Or mine, where polar bears are NOT native, but stray here every few years or decades. Where the north is populated by farmers, holidaymakers and tourists, no one prepared for or expecting to run into a polar bear.
Endangered species though they may be, Polar bears are still 500-1000 lb. and often vicsious beasts which KILL PEOPLE, you know? If police decide the animal could possibly cause harm to humans, it's their duty to shoot it.

I hope you can see at least some point in my arguments. It's not always Black & White, even concerning endangered animals.

On a happier note, I'm glad to inform you that (amazingly) a second polar bear turned up in northern Iceland yesterday, not far from where the other was brought down. Authorities here are taking note of the international backlash that came from killing the first bear, and are monitoring it pending capture and release back into the wild.

In which country do you think there have been more polar bears shot in the last few years?;
Yours (to which polar bears are native to the almost uninhabited north, and are constantly monitored by scientists (and police where needed), and people are aware of their presence. And further south, how about your “Mounties” or the Park Rangers in the USA? Do you really think they've never been forced to shoot a grizzly bear when human lives were in danger?
Or mine, where polar bears are NOT native, but stray here every few years or decades. Where the north is populated by farmers, holidaymakers and tourists, no one prepared for or expecting to run into a polar bear.
Endangered species though they may be, Polar bears are still 500-1000 lb. and often vicsious beasts which KILL PEOPLE, you know? If police decide the animal could possibly cause harm to humans, it's their duty to shoot it.
I hope you can see at least some point in my arguments. It's not always Black & White, even concerning endangered animals.

On a happier note, I'm glad to inform you that (amazingly) a second polar bear turned up in northern Iceland yesterday, not far from where the other was brought down. Authorities here are taking note of the international backlash that came from killing the first bear, and are monitoring it pending capture and release back into the wild.