Posted on 06/08/2008 1:02:51 PM PDT by Red Steel
A polar bear that swam more than 200 miles through near-freezing water to reach Iceland was shot by local police - just in case it posed a danger to humans.
The death of the bear, thought to be the first to reach Iceland in about 15 years, caused a public outcry from animal lovers, the Guardian reported. A police spokesperson said that it would not have been possible to sedate the bear.
"There was fog up in the hills and we took the decision to kill the bear before it could disappear into the fog," police spokesman Petur Bjornsson.
Iceland’s environment minister, Thorunn Sveinbjarnardottir is said to have given the green light for police to shoot to kill because it would have taken 24 hours for a proper tranquilizer to be flown to the scene.
A vet from a neighboring town, however, criticized the decision, claiming that he had the drugs necessary in the trunk 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."
The bear is believed to have swam either about 200 miles from Greenland or from some distant chunk of Arctic ice. The last time a polar bear made a similar journey to reach Iceland was in 1993, and that bear was also shot to death.
The tragedy is being cited as a reminder of the impact that receding North Pole ice has on its animal inhabitants - the shrinking of the polar bears' hunting and mating grounds and the ripple effect on the area's eco-system.
A rep for PolarWorld, a German group dedicated to the preservation of the polar regions, called the bear's death "an avoidable tragedy ... another great day for mankind."
I suppose it would have been worse to make him swim back.
Polar bears are trying to expand their range. ;-0
Send a Peta Representative out to welcome the bear and pet it on the nose.
“A polar bear that swam more than 200 miles through near-freezing water to reach Iceland was shot by local police.”
It just wasn’t his day.
Interesting. A polar bear can swim 200 miles. But yet one picture of a polar bear on an iceberg and we are suppose to be in a panic, as if there is not more solid ground within swimming distance of the poor bear.
That is a shame. He just wanted to do the jobs that Icelanders did not want to do.
A good call for the cops. Who gets the bear’s pelt?
Global Warming Made the Police Do It!
Which leads me to think of something:
Miss Brown: Say hey where is your homework Jim?
Jim: Oh Global Warming Ate it.
I am having too much fun on this website. I should tune out right now.
More irrational histrionics from global warming idiots. I could just as easily, and with greater validity, claim that the ice sheet is growing and putting bears closer to Iceland, else they wouldn't be able to make the journey.
Hmmmm.
I thought Albore’s peeps told us that polar bears were drowning because they can’t swim.
Iceland has nothing for him to eat but humans. On the other hand, one lone bear will not feed Iceland either.
Reminds me of the otter they nursed back to health after an oil spill and released, only to be immediately eaten by an Orca whale.
I thought they automatically drowned after 50 miles.
Clearly demand has far outstripped supply for polar bear rugs....sounds like the arrival was 'very timely' and will bring a princely sum
If they’d have just held off shooting the bear he’d have probably died within 24 hours from heat prostration, isn’t that so, Al.
Yes, that's the most plausible explanation. The Globull Warming people say it's because the Arctic icecap is receding that this polar bear was found in Iceland. If the polar bears need ice to survive, they would recede with the icecap into the Arctic circle? I've heard that the Polar Bears are 5x more in population than they were in 1972.
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