Authorities say a rare polar bear spotted in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat.
Archived version: https://archive.md/EZwKf
We can all agree that it’s a tragedy that this animal died.
The other consideration is that polar bears are amongst the most relentless and vicious predators around. A polar bear around an inhabited area is very much a serious safety threat. Iceland doesn’t have any animal predators and therefore also wouldn’t have the trained people or equipment necessary to deal with neutralizing and relocating this bear.
I would have liked to have seen the animal safely moved. But I suspect there’s more context to this story that we don’t have beyond the headline.
A bit more context from reading the article
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the bear was actively going through the trash of a woman’s summer house while she was there which is why it was reported
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the Iceland environmental agency actively decided to not try and relocate it, likely due to how expensive it would be to take back to Greenland
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the bear is also being studied for potential diseases/parasites, how healthy it was, body fat, etc. which is nice I guess
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dicks out for polambe
Cops not being a bastard challenge level impossible
No dogs around, so these intrepid cops adapted to the situation and got the job done using what was available
The bear was killed Thursday afternoon in the northwest of Iceland after police consulted the Environment Agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, Westfjords Police Chief Helgi Jensson told The Associated Press.
Environment Agency is to blame here, not the cops.
the headline writers are to blame here, not the commenters
Environment agency is just another type of cop. Not that policing environmental regulations is necessarily bad but they are still literally cops dude.
If they were park rangers, sure, but a random career government bureaucrat has no enforcement authority here.
Best way to defend against a polar bear:
- Hand it ticket to Iceland
- Hand it a toy gun
Best way to defend against a black bear is to hand it a wallet. Or phone.
IT’S COMING RIGHT FOR US
I didn’t have Harambe 2.0 on my 2024 Bingo Card.
Just another day in America…
Americans always: “don’t forget about us”
Iceland is a country in America
It’s about 500km from the Hebrides compared to about 2500km from Labrador
Tectonically, is it on the American or Eurasian plate? Answer: neither, it’s on the fault line.
Europe is an American overseas territory
Removed by mod
You ever heard the word cattle?
In this case, as you can see in the picture, the bear was very close to a summer house. There was an old woman in there.
Oh no! A women in a protected environment might be anxious?! SHOOT IT!!!
seriously, Iceland, I think we all expected more out of you.
You think a regular door will hold back a hungry polar bear?
I do not know the quality of door this woman has.
They can peel a car door open like it’s opening a letter
I hate bills too.
Then maybe you should defer judgment unless you know the facts. Polar bears are incredibly strong and will hunt and eat prey much larger than humans.
It’s not the polar bears fault.
