Posted on 07/30/2018 5:48:28 PM PDT by Simon Green
Norwegian authorities on Monday defended the actions of guards from a German cruise ship that killed a polar bear that had attacked and injured a crew member, saying they at first tried to scare it away. Police spokesman Ole Jakob Malmo said two members of the 12-man crew that set foot on the most northern island of the Svalbard archipelago ahead of tourists on Saturday first tried to ward off the bear "by shouting and making loud noises as well as firing a signal pistol, but to no effect."
A 42-year-old German man who was not identified sustained minor head injuries from the attack, Malmo said.
The incident sparked international outrage, with animal rights activists saying that it was wrong to begin with to let tourists from the MS Bremen cruise ship encroach upon territory known as a habitat for the vulnerable species.
The German cruise ship operator Hapag Lloyd Cruises said on its Facebook page that the purpose of the landing on Svalbard was not "to serve the purpose of polar bear observation, on the contrary: polar bears are only observed from aboard ships, from a safe distance."
British comedian Ricky Gervais took to Twitter to call the tourists "morons," while another user, Jane Roberts, said that if such tourism was banned, guards "wouldn't be needed to protect gawking tourists & polar bears would be left in peace & not shot dead merely to satisfy a photo op."
The archipelago between mainland Norway and the North Pole is known for its stunning snow-covered mountains, fjords and glaciers, and is a popular cruise ship destination. An estimated 60 percent of the archipelago is covered with ice, and its 3,000 polar bears are said to outnumber the human population, BBC News reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Hands up don’t shoot!
I can has outrage?
An astute observation, FRiend.
As a retired editor/reporter, I recall that I always my own informal list of cliché words that I knew to avoid.
My two pet hates over 25 years in the newspaper biz were “expert” and “controversial.” I don’t recall putting “outrage” on my list, but neither do I recall using it much, if at all.
Lately, I’ve gotten heartily sick of “icon” and “iconic.” As far as I’m concerned, an icon is a piece of devotional art in Greek Orthodox churches.
And as for the bear, I don’t care. Human life takes precedence.
1) They’re NOT vulnerable. Their numbers are increasing.
2) What, they should have let the bear EAT their co-worker?
3) like Alaska Brown bears, (or other aggressive bears)
polar bears will track people down and kill them.
And yet, most Euro governments bring in many tourists parasites to turn loose amongst the habitat of the local population.
If the bear didn’t “get the drop on them”, how did the guy get injured?
My current peeve is ‘curated’.
In the past, I resented ‘at that point in time’, and ‘problematic’.
(I’m old.)
They need to give them ecstasy. Might counteract their perpetual outrage.
The environmentalists have a point about cruise ships. If they’re too aggressive about where they bring tourists and in what numbers, they do create problems. A cruise ship full of people to visit polar bears in their wilderness environment? Count me out.
LMAO!
Some truth there. The polar bear was just doing what polar bears do in their habitat.
:( Wish we could burn stuff (not tires -— but I get your drift. Hehe) in our little town. Except for fire hazard days, of course, during droughts or high winds. Most people aren’t so stupid as to do that.
Kill a bear, save a whole bunch of seals
Turns out there's a Danish special forces unit that runs a dogsled patrol in Greenland. Their issued individual weapons, in a place where the main threat is polar bears, are the US model 1917 Enfield BOLT ACTION rifle in .30-'06, and a 10mm Glock, model 20 IIRC. The old and the relatively new.
Conspicuously missing were some kind of .375 H&H magnum rifle, etc, and some kind of .460 or .50 caliber ubermagnum handgun that we've all been advised on the internet to take with us on that salmon fishing trip to Alaska.
Tried to find that thread but it didn't jump right out. It was fun reading though at 2:00 AM this morning.
So we shouldn’t be outraged that You’re not outraged;)
(running for cover now)
He’s dead, Jim
If I were to ever find myself in that situation, I think I'd just pay someone to field dress it and send me the hide.
Okay, if there were some locals who wanted the meat that would be fine, but I'd have to be really hungry...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.