Rare polar bear seen on Iceland shores shot dead by police

An unusual incident occurred in Iceland when a polar bear was shot by police after it was deemed a threat to humans. This rare sighting took place in a remote village, raising concerns among local authorities.

The bear was killed on Thursday afternoon in northwest Iceland following consultations with the Environment Agency. The agency decided against relocating the animal, as confirmed by Westfjords Police Chief Helgi Jensson in a statement to the Associated Press.

“It’s not something we like to do,” Jensson said. “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.”

The bear approached a summer residence and began rummaging through garbage, causing significant distress to the homeowner. Alone at the time, the woman locked herself upstairs and contacted her daughter in Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, using a satellite link to call for help.

Jensson highlighted the woman’s cautiousness, noting, “She stayed there. Other summer residents in the area had already gone home. She knew the danger.”

Polar bears are not indigenous to Iceland; they occasionally drift ashore after traveling on ice floes from Greenland. Anna Sveinsdóttir, the director of scientific collections at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History, indicated that numerous icebergs have been spotted off the northern coast in recent weeks.

Although polar bear attacks on humans are rare, a study published in the Wildlife Society Bulletin in 2017 indicated that the loss of sea ice due to climate change is driving more hungry bears onto land, increasing the likelihood of encounters with humans. This trend raises risks for both parties.

A study conducted in Norway in 2021 revealed that polar bears are experiencing inbreeding as they struggle for survival. The research uncovered a 10% loss in genetic diversity among polar bear populations on the Svalbard archipelago between 1995 and 2016.

Furthermore, a 2020 study indicated that dwindling sea ice is contributing to the starvation of polar bears, and some studies predict that the species could face extinction within the century. Reduced genetic diversity compounds the risk of extinction.

From 1870 to 2014, there were 73 documented polar bear attacks in Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and the United States, resulting in 20 fatalities and 63 injuries. Alarmingly, 15 of these attacks occurred in the last five years of that time frame.

In recent months, instances of polar bear aggression have made headlines. Last month, two polar bears attacked and killed a worker at a remote radar site in the Canadian Arctic. In 2023, a tragic incident occurred in Wales, Alaska, when a polar bear killed a woman and her young son.

The bear that was killed in Iceland was the first sighted in the country since 2016. Recorded sightings are quite rare, with the count standing at only 600 since the ninth century.

While polar bears are a protected species in Iceland, it is permissible to kill them if they pose a threat to humans or livestock. Following two bear instances in 2008, a task force was established to study this controversial issue. The conclusion was that eliminating wandering bears was the most suitable response to ensure public safety.

The task force reasoned that these nonnative bears presented a danger to people and animals, and also cited the exorbitant cost of returning them to Greenland, approximately 300 kilometers away. They noted that a robust bear population exists in eastern Greenland, a likely source for the wandering bears.

The young polar bear, which weighed between 150 and 200 kilograms (300 to 400 pounds), has been sent to the institute for study. On Friday, scientists collected samples from the bear to check for parasites and infections, and to evaluate its overall physical health, including organ function and body fat percentage. The pelts and skull may be preserved for the institute’s collection.

Following the bear’s removal, the Icelandic Coast Guard conducted an aerial survey of the area to detect any other bears but found none. After the incident, the woman who reported the bear opted to extend her stay in the village, as confirmed by Jensson.

Source: Associated Press