Polar bear swims 300km, police shoot it

Polar bear swims 300km, police shoot it

www.news.com.au

The bear, an adult male weighing around 250kg, was presumed to have swum some 300km from Greenland or from a distant chunk of Arctic ice to Skagafjordur in northern Iceland.

It was planned to sedate the animal and move it back to Greenland but the police decided it was safest to kill the bear immediately.

"There was fog up in the hills and we took the decision to kill the bear before it could disappear into the fog”, said police spokesman Petur Bjornsson.

(visit the link for the full news article)



Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Polar bears are now endangered species!
Polar Bear Extinction
Polar bears could be extinct...is it happening anywhere else?

WTH?

This story really annoys me. Here was have what you could say was a harmless 'endangered' animal and the police think the best option is to shoot it?

What is wrong with people? Not just any species, an endangered one, which is very evident if you look at the topics of the related ATS threads.

Are endangered species protected under some sort of international law? Will these police have any backlash?

www.news.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 5/6/2008 by SilentShadow]

Harmless? Hardly. Its the largest carnivore on the planet.

That just sick / disgraceful.

Our news at the moment has a story about a hippo who has moved down the coast from the reserve where it was living and was languishing on beaches in highly populated areas. All that our authorities did was monitor the animal and warned people in the area that the hippo was around and was dangerous. This hippo has been in the news for about 2 weeks now although his journey south from his home has been going on for months. Locals sat and watched the hippo surfing the waves and generally cavorting about. It seems that the hippo has now decided that human neighbours are nowhere near as much fun as hippo neighbours and has started to move back to the reserve under the watchful eye of Nature Conservation.

Now, if "deepest darkest Africa" have the compassion to merely wait out this wild creature why on earth would police from a "civilised country" go and shoot a poor defenceless polar bear. Yes, they are dangerous but we're in his space, not the other way around!!

What world are you people living in where Polar Bears are 'defenseless' and 'harmless'???

They're a 600 pound killing machine and you can bet that sucker was hungry and pissed after swimming for weeks to find a meal. Would you rather it was running loose in the fog killing people?

Originally posted by mythatsabigprobe
Would you rather it was running loose in the fog killing people?

Sheep! It would have feasted on sheeps for weeks in a rocky gletcher terrain with lots of hiding places.

Keep in mind on Iceland sheep outnumber people with a factor 2 or more.

Would have been heaven for a carnivore, "largest on the planet.. .."

A sad story but I guess there was nothing else they could do.

It 's a "better sad than sorry" reaction, typic Nordic.

Originally posted by Anonymous ATS
Harmless? Hardly. Its the largest carnivore on the planet.

Yes you are right, but it was swimming for it's life, made it to the shore, probably was relieved and then they shot and killed it... It would be like if you ran a 300 mile marathon and then someone shot you at the end... Anyone who has seen these bears knows they are dangerous, but most encounters are not aggressive... They could have very easily waited in the trucks, let the bear roam and then tracked it... We do have heat sensing equipment we could have used for that... Shooting it was way out of line... I can't believe people get away with this... Especially a polar bear... They are endangered due to global warming, the first species to be placed on the list because of global warming... sad.. These cops should be punished for this, it is a crime!

Originally posted by ElectricUncleSam
...they are dangerous, but most encounters are not aggressive...

After had swum 300 km.. .. not aggressive???

I'm not sure 'bout that.



[edit on 5/6/2008 by khunmoon]

Originally posted by ElectricUncleSam
They could have very easily waited in the trucks, let the bear roam and then tracked it... We do have heat sensing equipment we could have used for that...

Yes, they could have pulled out their heat sensing equipment and followed it around for several months, or had NASA retask a satellite to track it.

Look, it would have been nice if they could have sedated it and taken it back where it came from, but there obviously wasn't time to get the equipment or people necessary to do that before it disappeared into the fog and became a risk to the people living in the area. The police did what they had to do to keep the citizens safe.

If anyone else swam 300 kilometers they would be greeted with official fanfare, trophies, a spot on the Leno show and within a month be doing paid product endorsements right next to Lance Armstrong.

But let a poor polar bear swim that far just to find a more fertile hunting ground of seals and small children and they waste him...
Heavy sigh -
What's this world coming to?

Natalie~

[edit on 6-5-2008 by intelgurl]

Originally posted by intelgurl
But let a poor polar bear swim that far just to find a more fertile hunting ground of seals and small children and they waste him...

That's because seals are protected..

Sheesh. Its because of the crappy attitude that humans come first that the world is in the state it is today. Why could they not track it? Why could they not notify residents in the area that its on the loose and to be careful and let the poor animal live in peace. For crying out loud, its ONE POLAR BEAR against how many people...with guns. Yes, it is a dangerous animal but that does not give humans the right to kill it. Using that logic, you would need to murder half of the American population as they too are dangerous - either "officially" as in the case of the police and military, or "unofficially" as in the murderers like the kids who shot up those high schools. And that goes for the rest of the world too, not just the great USA.