Hove would you have reacted? There was no other way. Some times it's like you Americans just don't get the situation.
What would you have done if you had seen a report like this:

A polar beer kills a 11-year-old girl in Iceland.

Around 5 p.m. this evening we the police gave out a report that the polar beer in Skagafjörður attacked the 11-year-old girld Rannveig Texten.
The girls body was found near their house. The animal ate most of her body so that it's baggily knowable. The bear is now in the mountains in Skagafjörður but has not been executed yet because the International Community is against it. "The polar beers are in great danger, every single beers matter" they say.

But environment minister of Iceland says that the beast will bee executed within an hour, before it causes more harm.

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, president of Iceland and Geir Haarde, prime minister of Iceland has declare a 3 day national sadness. Pope Benedinkt XVI has says he's sorry for Rannveigs death and he will go to Iceland and visit the family in the next day.

BUT WHAT IF YOU WOULD THEN SEE THIS REPORT:

The polar beer who killed the 11-year-old girl Rannveig Texten or practically ate her has been executed.
The environment minister of Iceland sayed that this was the only thing in the situation...

Beers are dangerous animals and are one of natures largest predators.
What would you Americans do if a polar beer would appear near humans? Well, you would properly put the poor animal in a zoo but we Icelanders life on a one big peace of island! We cant do any thing with it and trying to fly with it to Greenland in an airplane makes no sense.

And just a little tip, a polar beer is an entirely different animal from the beer you know in America. The polar beer is bigger, is swims better, they're quicker and more dangerous.

Now leaf Iceland alone and let it control it owns beer issue (though we don't have one).

I could go on and on. But this is enough.

And PS.
Polar beers usually come ones in a decade and every single beer who came in the middle-ages was given to the Danish royalty as a carped.

And exactly do you people know? you dont even know the facts. there were lives at stakes and there were no FRIGGIN DARTS AVAILEBLE!!! so before you star shitting over my country, try to use the thing i hope you still have, a brain, for example in america murders and drive by's are daily thing, ACCORDING TO THE PRESS, but we have the smarts to get the point thats it a little exagurated, we dont go crapping over land and nation, yes the cops could have yoused darts, but theyd have to have waited for at least 24 ours with campers near and a fog to loose the bears in, so if theyd have done that, you'd be youd be juding us now for slow responce and parents be driving their kids, so thing, not just with the tv.

There came a second polar bear to Iceland yesterday I think. An operation to save the bear is in progress, the plan is to tranqulize it and move it to Greenland. However they say that if the bear runs to sea after it's been shot there is a great danger that it'll sleep in the ocean and drown.

Greetings from Iceland

revolting and cowardly. for shame, icelandic officials!
Angela MacDonald
Bedford, Nova Scotia
Canada
name *NOT* withheld by request
amacdonald01@eastlink.ca

SHAME on you, Iceland! Polar bears already have a hard time surviving. No traq guns. Pathetic for your country! Shame, shame, shame. Never, never will I opt to visit your soil nor recommend your spas to my friends. We now have a contest for a free trip to Iceland. Should I, by some chance win, NEVER will I grace your soil again. You are a disgrace.

There is a principle here. It's called Sin.
The Lord, who also abhors Sin, will destroy those that destroy the Earth.
Fortunately, the creater of bears is the one that will judge, not us.

claudius writes:
"To be shot after a 200 mile swim - that's like getting lost in a strange airport and being tasered to death."
Not quite. I expect to be tasered to death whenever I enter an airport, and consider myself lucky when the goons don't get me.

jjohnjj wrote
"[insert excrement here]"
Had to forge a "news story" to make your point, didn't you? What a sorry excuse for a life form you are.

Makes me sick. Sometimes humans seem like a race of deranged monsters that don't deserve the majesty of this planet.

I'm beginning to wonder about Iceland. It has begun to take too many cruel, anti-environmental actions, including on whales. Let's consider some sanctions!

Here in western MD they have a big bear hunt every year. Assholes go out into the deep woods and sit around waiting for a bear to lumber by, and they shoot it. Last year, the first bear shot was by a 13 yr old girl. So (of course) they had her photo on the front page of the newspaper, standing there with a dead bear on the back of a pickup truck. And of course, this 13 yr old girl was smiling and looking really proud of herself, standing there beside the dead bear. These people are sick. And many of them are also drunks. Every year, two or three men die for various reasons during deer hunting season. They fall out of tree stands, or they have a heart attack, or some other hunter accidentally shoots them. But for some reason, they never show their corpses in full color on the front page of the newspaper.

The ONLY good news, because so often these days you need to be dead to make news that might help...is that this Polar bear joins other animals and humans (think Rachel Corrie) who die but (hopefully) cause ripples apart from disgust/tears/sadness/etc - to ACTION that matters and honours their memory as innocent victims of Empire/greed/
guns/Republicans/Conservatives/ecological stupidy... Really, a lot more beings will die before we might see the end of these tragic events. Maybe, as saddend as I am, they might provoke more positive change in people.I can only pray the deaths are not TOTALLY for nothing. Amen.

I was motivated to give a commentary when I saw so much hatred toward human beings coming from humans--I think?

The human beings are also an endangered species along with the creatures of the animal world. I used the word creature fully aware that this word belongs to someone who believes in a Creator. I am not the institutionalized type of believer either. I just want to comment to those who are cursing the human race, If you were truly lovers of the earth--you would also love your fellowmen irregardless of their national origin and color of their skin.

After observing what is going on by living in more than one county, it is obvious that the true predators are usually the corporations and those at the very top who really are the ones guilty of raping the land.

Normally the simple native fishermen and blue collar workers are stuggling to make ends meet because the corporations and the very rich pay them so very little. Yet these talented people are talented enough to build the gorgeous castles for the rich. These construction workers whom I regard as artists of their are rewarded with extremely poor wages and usually have to sleep in a hovel by night.

The natives fish to survive and also provide food for our tables and they respectfully use the ocean. They are not involved with water sports that carelessly kill fish with their dangerous jet skis and other equipment. The native fishermen usually use simple boats to catch their fish because they can't afford anything else.

There are millions of simple working people who are homeless around the world--just look at the reality of the news. Try to love your neighbor and don't get into this hate syndrome--otherwise you become the predator.

Thank you dear bear for giving your life to show us all ....struggling to get to safety after your home/planet/life style is destroyed....you can be taken out swiftly by a bullet/earthquake/burp of methane....
poor bear....poor us....at last we are somewhat aware....too late

In the name of 'protecting' people, Chicago police killed a cougar this spring. Now, again, in the name of 'protecting' people another authority group has killed an animal which roamed into their territory. In the name of protecting the public, there are often young people shot on the streets of our large cities. It seems that those that protect us are either gun happy, as was apparently the case in Chicago, or our society is digressing. Instead of becoming more the keepers of the world, humans are becoming the destroyers. The day will come when there will be little left and those who have destroyed will have their epiphany to late. And, it will all be done. At least Iceland doesn't have a human death penalty, like the United States, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia.

Once again, we have an example of how fuckin primitive and ignornt the human species is. We constantly blow each other up, regardless if they are men women, children or elders. We pollute our environment and squander our finite natural resources. We fear the thought of alien beings out there in the universe and hide behind the ignorance of our religious faiths that encourage us to believe it will all be better in the other world, and so we destroy, without a backward glance the habitats and members of so many other non-human species of life.

But imagine the epic tale that polar bear could have told about its attempt to flee some unacceptable hell where it lived, had we listened instead of eliminating him or her. Try to imagine what he or she might have said about why the decision was made to abandon its former habitat, clan members and native lands, like so many of we humans have similarly down over the ages, in the hope of finding a better life elsewhere. The end of the polar bear's story not unlike that of so many humans around the world.

The smiles on the faces of the bear's assassins not unlike the smiles on the faces of so many others who have stood over the fallen human and non-human quarry, proud of their power to exercise life or deeath over another.

Out human species deserves everything it will get in the future for os much ignorance and aggression of the past.

Rest in Peace Bear! We are one with your spirit!

DutyCalls: there is no excuse for killing a polar bear when people are 2-3 miles away; they can move. So goes the wildlife on this planet, so us we or us. Your are the one who just doesn't get it. Americans love bears, we visit them in the parks and when they stray out into our areas, we tranquailize them and return them to the wilderness. There was not excuse, there was no eminent danger to anyone. In fact, it is the Icelanders who are a danger to wildlife.

well said, Lazuli.

I love wildlife, I never hunt and we have a wildlife bird sanctuary in our back yard, few birds this year though. However, if a polar bear was loose in my neighborhood and there were people having a picnic on my property, I'd sure want someone to make damn sure no one was attacked by the bear.

We have mountain lions and black bears here and we leave them alone and they leave us alone. Polar bears are a differnt breed of bear. They will stalk and kill humans, they do not like people. ___ The cubs are cute.
It is a shame this polar bear felt it necessary to relocate and go out with a bang.

"dutycalls"...
this endangered animal did not have to be slaughtered. this article backs that up.other solutions were available. it looks to me that it would of taken too much effort...easier to pull weapons and dispose,right?
where i live shooting an endangered animal is a crime.

i am sick.
as humans, im afraid we will all do ourselves in.
and if i know anything,i know...damage has been done to our mother earth.
AND the precious creatures that TRY to survive on their own.
mother earth will have her own revenge...we see it already!
its called living in harmony people!!!!!! all living things.
theres a special place SOMEWHERE,hell...if hell DOES exist...animal killers,like these 'officers' will meet there!

The narcissism of himans (sic) has no bounds

Quite. In this supposedly picture-perfect country of Iceland, there are homeless desperate drug-addicts & drunks roaming the streets of downtown Reykjavik, bothering tourists and natives alike. Many of them used to be hard-working people who simply gave up on life. Their dirt-poor wages, combined with brutal taxation and the sky-high interest rates of the banks, simply made their "normal lives" unbearable, so they settled for a sometimes decades-long suicide in the gutter.

There are many people here dying every day just from the lack of proper care (even if it's never acknowlegded). My own granddaughter could very well have died a couple of years back, from mis-diangnosis by an overworked, probably drugged, doctor-intern at a major hospital.

Instead of trying to solve these problems, our government spent millions of dollars as "our contribution" to the wars in Afghanistan & Iraq. And not a few thousand dollars on lawyers fees for the criminal case of a homeless unfortunate who helped himself to a bowl of soup in a supermarket without paying. Plus a few more millions on a special pension plan for retired public officials. Just to name a few financial atrocities.

I know very well that these stories pale in comparison to the rest of the so-called "Free World". My point is simply that Iceland – for all it's supposed perfection – is just another clog in the whole rotten machine.

So, it's really strange to see my tiny country getting all this negative attention it is getting now, for – of all things – cops shooting a single stray polar bear in order to keep people safe! As I said earlier, I'm all for protecting endangered animals. But it's disgusting to see this almost hysterical reaction to a story of a single animal being regrettably killed, while the constant stories of worldwide degragation and wholesale slaughter of human beings sometimes only draw a few responses, some of them more self-serving than symphatetic.

If there were in fact campers 2 or 3 miles away, and they had advance notice the bear was in that vicinity, how about getting the campers to move instead of killing the bear. The narcissism of humans has no bounds.

What an encouraging image. We can fix a portapotty on the space lab, but all we can do to protect ourselves from a polar bear is shoot it? I guess a good meal after such a swim wouldn't have allowed his capture and rehabilitation, and that anything strange and menacing needs summary treatment.

Some people don't ever care to acknowledge that a coin has two sides ~Duty Calls~.

You brought up some excellent points.

And as someone else here wrote, polar bears will hunt and kill people and that is very true. Meat is meat to them.

"greenspark",

"–Yep, much better informed than the victim of the crime (although we don't know the name of this polar bear)"

---NAME of this polar bear?! Polar bears don't have names, except those given to them by humans – and even then, theyr'e not aware of having those names, nor do they even understand the concept.

"–Yeah, one sided as opposed to your side, which is not at all the side of the polar bear or its family"

---It's family?! Well, even if polar bears had life-long family ties (which they don't), this male would have made a mess of things by leaving his family for a swim toward the unknown south, wouldn't he? Betcha his wife would have left him faster than you can say honey bear.

"You said: "but it has turned out that there were campers holidaying 2-3 miles in the exact direction the hungry bear would have headed into the fog"

Uh-huh. That would be a bummer. I can hear the responsible parties now…"Oh my god! Fog! Oh my god! What do we do?" Forgetting that they could do the same goddamn thing they do whenever they're out on a hunting party and find a way to subdue the bear. Love your "it turns out" language, too.

---I't would indeed have been "a bummer" had this bear stumbled into and attacked some totally unsuspecting campers.

"You said: "I'm all for protecting the environment, endangared species in particular. But not if it directly puts human lives at risk!"

….Because while you're trolling around, or whatever-the-hell you're doing, there are 200 species - 1,000 species A DAY!!!! being driven to extinction, and maybe you know some maths and you can figure out how many that is per minute, while you read this, and maybe your kids or your nieces, or your grandchildren will thank you for waking up in time to see that you have no right to determine whether their lives are better off without one more bear, or any other given species, so some other human can live instead of a bear? How do YOU know what the meaning of that bear's life is, to your children, or their offspring?

---Every day, millions of PEOPLE are needlessly suffering and dying every day. That's precisely what prompts me to read this fine website every day, but that's not what we're discussing right here.

Talking about protecting children: If you were picnicking with your kids in Central Park, and unknown to you, the NYPD were a mile away hesitating to GOD FORBID, SHOOT an escaped hungry lion from the Zoo, I'd bet you'd see things differently.

"You–don't–have–a–clue."

---Don't I?

"DutyCalls"

You said: "much better informed by local media about the details of this story"

--Yep, much better informed than the victim of the crime (although we don't know the name of this polar bear)

You said: "I'm appalled at the one-sided prejudiced reaction I see here"

--Yeah, one sided as opposed to your side, which is not at all the side of the polar bear or its family

You said: "commentators all cry bloody murder"

--Appalling indeed, as that's what you call cold-blooded shot from a distance, with no provocation when there are other options

You said: "I agree that posing over the dead bear in a "trophy-shot" was a stupid idea"

--Oh, gosh, how charitable of you. "Stupid". Heh. Thanks. Got any more change in your pocket? How about in your heart?

You said, "neutralizing a potentially mortal threat to people"

--That's rich. That's law enforcement language. Clearly, you are either a troll for the killers or the law enforcement (once again, one in the same in this case), OR, regardless, you are deeply ignorant of the fact that you and ALL of us live in a culture that BREEDS that kind of insensitivity, BREEDS this kind of separation of relationship to other living beings. Or both.

You said: "but it has turned out that there were campers holidaying 2-3 miles in the exact direction the hungry bear would have headed into the fog"

Uh-huh. That would be a bummer. I can hear the responsible parties now..."Oh my god! Fog! Oh my god! What do we do?" Forgetting that they could do the same goddamn thing they do whenever they're out on a hunting party and find a way to subdue the bear. Love your "it turns out" language, too.

You said: "I'm all for protecting the environment, endangared species in particular. But not if it directly puts human lives at risk!"

Tell ya what? When you get a clue that protecting the planet inherently MEANS putting human life at risk, AND inherently MEANS accepting that human life is NOT MORE important that other lives, but IS INTERdependent WITH ALL other life, human AND nonhuman, come back and have a real conversation, ok?

....Because while you're trolling around, or whatever-the-hell you're doing, there are 200 species - 1,000 species A DAY!!!! being driven to extinction, and maybe you know some maths and you can figure out how many that is per minute, while you read this, and maybe your kids or your nieces, or your grandchildren will thank you for waking up in time to see that you have no right to determine whether their lives are better off without one more bear, or any other given species, so some other human can live instead of a bear? How do YOU know what the meaning of that bear's life is, to your children, or their offspring?

You--don't--have--a--clue.

As an Icelander, much better informed by local media about the details of this story, I'm appalled at the one-sided prejudiced reaction I see here.

With the exception of a user calling himself "jjohnjj" and a few others, commentators all cry bloody murder, some even calling for violent action against those responsible for shooting the bear.

I agree that posing over the dead bear in a "trophy-shot" was a stupid idea, but these guys nevertheless were only doing their duty, neutralizing a potentially mortal threat to people.

There were no farms in immediate danger, but it has turned out that there were campers holidaying 2-3 miles in the exact direction the hungry bear would have headed into the fog. They were not armed, because there's no need - Iceland's biggest native predators are foxes and minks. Nobody expects to run into a 250-kg hungry polar bear, let alone up in the mountains in mid-summer!

I'm all for protecting the environment, endangared species in particular. But not if it directly puts human lives at risk!

Gaia will settle accounts. She has already started with global warming, earth quakes, and the setting off of volcanoes.

Shameful, just shameful. I hope there is a heaven for polar bears.
__________________________________

Or at least a haven. ;)

Shameful, just shameful. I hope there is a heaven for polar bears.

At one time I believed in evolution. Is there anything like an ASSHOLE PRINCIPLE on the books? I suppose that I'm judging erroneously and expecting us to evolve in what I see as a positive direction. My mistake, huh? I guess evolution could go forward and backward.

>>If a polar bear is threatening a human settlement it cannot be drugged and dragged away - much like a porcupine. Both polar bears and porcupines will come back if you do not kill them. I get so tired of city slickers who know nothing about wildlife commenting on things they know nothing about.

This is categorically false. Polar bears are tranquilized and relocated all the time in Canada when they are deemed a risk to humans. You can drive up to Churchill Manitoba if you do not believe me. Buses will take you on tours to see the bears.

Bears that prove a nuisance are tagged and then relocated. If they were all shot you would not have those bus tours to see the bears.

There are bears that lose their fear of humans and will come back again and again. These can then prove to be a danger and might be shot.

I highly doubt this particular bear would have continued to swim to Iceland.

http://www.polarbearalley.com/polar-bear-blog-oct27-nov5.html

This is a blog of a person who lives In Churchill. The bears come right into town. Note no mention of them stalking humans, the need to kill them or be at risk of death, or how relocated bears just keep coming back.

Guess this guys one of them know nothing city slickers.

http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/travel/story.html?id=2144a32e-a736-4549-9777-c6366ec45889

This speaks on the rather extensive relocation program for bears that become a nuisance.

Darn know nothing city slickers.

I'm sorry, but the ignorance about polar bears and the danger they pose to human settlements astounds me. Polar bears are one of only three land species that will actively hunt humans for food. Let me repeat myself:

Polar bears are one of only three land species that will actively hunt humans for food.

The other two are certain tiger and lion breeds.

If a polar bear is threatening a human settlement it cannot be drugged and dragged away - much like a porcupine. Both polar bears and porcupines will come back if you do not kill them. I get so tired of city slickers who know nothing about wildlife commenting on things they know nothing about.

You all probably think that deer hunting is savage too? Well, if you don't want TB infecting cattle herds you best keep the deer population down through hunting. Predators will threaten those self-same herds if they are not kept under certain numbers. Nature is not your friend or enemy. It is what it is.

What I remember the clearest was the co workers sheer desire to KILL it. There was no real concerns for our safety. He just wanted to make that kill. -- GwNorth
____________________________________

Indeed. That was the gist of my previous post.

In "Huckleberry Finn", Huck remarks in passing that his Pap taught him to always steal a chicken if he got the chance-- because even if you don't NEED the chicken, there's always someone else who does, and a good deed ain't never forgot.

It's a bit of a stretch, but not much, to the logic of "Always kill an animal when you get the chance-- because even if there's no NEED to kill the animal, the animal MIGHT threaten some human in the future, and a good deed ain't never forgot."

It's also similar to the SOP in many US jurisdictions for police officers to summarily execute mentally deranged people who are acting out violently; the fact that they ARE mentally deranged persons-- even when desperate family members have summoned the police for HELP and beg the cops not to kill the person who's obviously out of his right mind-- is irrelevant. The cops, like the animal executioners, view their target as a danger to society that may ethically be IMMEDIATELY destroyed.

The authorities are clearly not interested in any superfluous sentimental humanitarian nonsense which would involve needless effort and risk. And judging from the letters sections of local newspapers, the public truculently supports and defends this approach.

It's just good common sense to kill first and ask questions later.

The shooters of the polar bear should be made to swim in icy waters for 200 miles. I think it is called poetic justice.

In Michigan a hunter shot a cow, tied it to the back of his truck and drug it home. He then claimed he thought it was a deer. ??? The cow was a family pet and she was pregnant. Her owners (kids) watched the whole event. Humans lacking humanity are not only ignorant, but the scum of the earth.

Tragic story. While, Iceland is known for being the Peace nation.

Hell, 50 to 60 people would never be allowed to gather here in northern Minnesota without a permit but then law enforcement doesn't have much to do.

This murder of the bear was senseless. They should have exhausted all other means of control before taking the bear's life.

Fellow caring persons who like me were moved to tears by this story....let us give this courageous creature, who is flesh of our flesh through the evolution of life and our distant sibling, dignity in his death for perhaps focussing the eyes of the world on what really happened here....so that those of little brains who killed him/her can grasp how everything is connected and how they have wronged this bear...and those among us, who now sit here in front of our screens with aches and horror, will live our lives in such a way that this bear's family wont have to swim too. For its not just that policeman and hunters that killed him, we all carry that responsibility. "Save the Polar Bears" was a slogan that was used to mock people who were environmentally enlightened when I grew up in the sixties and seventies. Now we see why they were the ones who could see- and trying to send a message. And still, we don't listen.

They must have called Cheney first....

The suggestion by the powers that be that the bear killed out of concern for human life is a farce. Some he men never got a chance to shoot themselves a Polar bear and as soon as they heard one had swam to their shores could not wait to go out and prove hunting prowess.

Polar bears show up near Villages and communities throughout Canada. They are easy enough to tranquilize and relocate.

I recall once when I was about 21 working in the Bush in Norhern Alberta. We were doing surveying for mining companies and on the way back to the camp. As we neared the camp I spotted a rather smallish bear nosing about.

As soon as I mentioned it a co-worker had to rush back to the tent to get a gun, went out and shot it. The bear had likley never seen humans before. I felt guilty for weeks having just mentioned it there.

What I remember the clearest was the co workers sheer desire to KILL it. There was no real concerns for our safety. He just wanted to make that kill.

If you are as outraged as I am, tell the police department in Skagafjordur, Iceland how you feel. Here's the only email address I could find online that seems to be a general email regarding tourism to the area:

skagafjordur@skagafjordur.is

Tracy

reminded me of the immigrants, too, that walk for days through the desert only to be rounded up and sent back for all their effort and desperation.

-species-change operation -- Yes! Sign me up (and a new planet to live on, while we're at it).

Men with guns and a dead animal. People with guns and a dead "enemy". People with guns and something or someone dead. I am trying really hard not to use "men", but it ain't easy. This event should become a poster for every organization fighting global warming, wars on the environment, endangered species, international policies of genocide, every war that is not a war. Oh, Lord, the list could go on. You better believe this story is emblematic of who we have become...no scapegoats, please. My heart breaks. And then the asshole with the girl in her garden...
Will the powers that be in Iceland read or know about the CD comments? Another brain twinge - Put this event with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Department who routinely poison predators, cage sea lions who mysteriously die, etc. Budget in the millions for these things. Hell, just look at human history - When in doubt, shoot it. This crone is not in her happy place.

There is a word for this. It is koyaniqaatsi.

koy.aa.nis.qat.si (Hopi) [n] 1. crazy life 2. life out of balance 3. life disintegrating 4. life in turmoil 5. a way of life that calls for another way of living.

Of course it is not an English word, the Western world has no parallel concept because for most of the West, God is somewhere "out there" rather than right here.

Humans deserve to be exterminated, and I think this is exactly what Mother Nature has in mind.

"forextrader June 6th, 2008 12:18 pm

And they couldn't use tranquilizer darts?"

The article answers that question.

Quote: "Sveinbjarnardottir's account was disputed by the chief vet in the town of Blönduó, Egill Steingrímsson, who said he had the drugs necessary to immobilise the bear in the boot 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.""

His words seem very or wholly reasonable to me; as well as him saying that the police should have closed the area off to people. If that had been done, and it was the sole intelligent thing to do, then people would not be in any danger!

==================================

Quoting again from the article: "Polar bears were frequently tamed during the middle ages, but since then no bear has been captured alive in Iceland."

It'd be interesting to know what the precisely means and how people were able to tame polar bears. Starting when they're very young, I could understand that the bears would become accustomed to being with or among people and without treating us as food, but I wonder if they adult bears were also tamed. I wonder if the tamed bears were so tame that they and people could walk about along themselves, or if the taming refers to keeping the bears in cages, or some alternative for those.

A Web search I just performed and using, '"tamed polar bears" historically' without the outer quotes, turns up links and the first one I see is at 7hexdragon.org. The snippet of text with the link says "... They are masters of ice and have tamed polar bears for pets and ride ...", which of course seems like the riding is about people riding polar bears; quite an interesting friendship that'd make. I don't know that short-legged people like myself would like riding polar bears, which perhaps have bodies a little too wide for our leg comfort; but they'd sure make interesting companions.

Another of the search links is for "The Time Machine [the wheel] [Archive] - Lost-Forum.com", and the snippet of Google (poor search engine, but sometimes okay) reads, "So then they used the tamed polar bears to turn it whenever they needed or wanted ...."

I'm not opening those links now in case the pages crash my browser, but it sure seems like interesting history, and it definitely beats harming bears; unless they have rabies or some mental disease or disorder that occasionally makes some even black bears unusually and very aggressive. I listened to a good documentary on I believe Canal D in Quebec several years ago and about one guy who had a scary encounter. He went for a little trekking in Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada, and was really and clearly being chased in hunt-like fashion by the large bear (large when considering it was a black bear). I believe the film footage ended with the guy finally seeing the bear disappear after it had him scram into the nearby lake, wading in it and far from shore (must've had a sand bar to stand on or else I didn't think a lake of that size in that park could be so shallow that far out from shore, I'd say that it was like 150 to 200 feet from shore, if not more, and he was standing in water up to around the chest, not treading, but standing). The bear fortunately did not go into the water more than maybe setting its legs in it a little; otherwise staying on shore and clearly not being particularly happy about this tricky victim making life a little frustrating for the bear.

I believe a wildlife expert (some expert or experts anyway) was the person quoted saying that it must've been a bear with some sort of mental or psychological disorder, for it went after this other guy and I don't recall it being due to the guy having surprised the bear, which most people know is a dangerous thing to do with even berry-loving black bears. Anyway, the bear disappeared and the guy thought he could make his way to his car or truck that was very near the water, but maybe a few hundred feet from the lake's edge. He stepped out and started heading and fast for his vehicle, and ooops, mister bear was not far away and must've heard the guy running once out of the lake, and came rushing after him again. Finally made it to the vehicle and out of there, though.

I've learned of other black bears attacking a few or several people in that large park and in separate instances, as well as around North Bay, Ontario, which is immediately north of this park, but the incident that I read or learned of happening there was not in the park. These cases were all natural, so understandable though. One was a young lad around 12 years old and he'd gone fishing but put trout he caught in the pockets of his raincoat and didn't get rid of that coat as the bear aggressively approached; a lesson to teach to NEVER put fish or anything of attractive odours to wild animals in pockets, to use fish baskets or a stringer, instead. Another case was a couple killed during their sleep, in their tent, one night and evidently because they hadn't known to NEVER leave any food scraps or other food on or near the ground in such wilderness areas. The case in North Bay was a woman, her daughter and her daughter's friend who were a little chased by a momma bear in bushes with her little cubs as the woman and the two young girls approached. One of the two girls fled, scramming back to town and as fast as she could get there; while I think the woman's daughter was being approached or already a little roughly handled by momma bear, which caused the woman to through herself over the young girl and then momma bear grabbed the woman by the rear, buttocks, and shook her around a little. They all lived without any serious injuries; momma bear was just making sure her young'uns were protected, not seeking food or doing anything unusual of such animals.

I was a flatwater and wilderness canoeist in the Ottawa YMCA canoe club, excellently non-profit, and getting to learn all of the essential skills and knowledge for trekking in parks like Algonquin, and La Verendrye Park, in Quebec. So I would definitely keep all of the knowledge gained through those trips and through documentary information like the above whenever trekking (if I ever get to go again) in the Appalachian forests, the Adirondacks of NY, and so on.

I went to a park very near the Adirondacks, if not within the Park, one time and I forget the relatively small mountain's name, but there were many hikers and maybe one mile into the forest, a game warden was hurriedly going to each of us to make sure to warn us to NOT go further. There was a group of black bears very shortly ahead and feeding, and dangerous for us to approach; surely some or many of us would surprise these bears and cause ourselves a few problems.

Maybe the Iceland police could benefit from such wilderness wardens providing real and important coaching. When we know the wilderness areas we trek into and through, then we should be able to do quite fine; besides maybe spraining an ankle, breaking a let or foot bone, getting caught in white-out blizzard conditions, ..., anyway. We did not pack any guns or other weapons when I trekked with the YMCA canoe club; only having a few cooking and utility knives, and the pots, pans, they can also be banged together to cause a noise that'll scare off enough black bears. I don't know if that'd work with Kodiak, Grizzly, Polar and other bears, but banging-pot sounds can work with black bears.

The most dangerous animal I learned of there being in Algonquin Park and from another wilderness warden, when a female adult moose spent a couple of days with us all and which really surprised me; well, he said moose are often like that, friendly, ..., but not males during mating season, which is short, but people definitely need to know about this danger when trekking into moose areas during that short time of year. The female did not come and join us while we ate, say, but was with us a good part of Saturday and the following morning, and seemed to want to follow us as we canoed out; maybe wanting to move in with some of us back in Ottawa. She'd get lonely there, though; no mates and therefore no little'uns, ya know.

Anyway, there's a little of my story tellings, and given the Iceland police unfortunately killed the polar bear, they'll hopefully provide the meat to Icelanders who are poor, and also not waste the fur. It's bad enough to have unnecessarily killed the bear, so I suppose that not letting it all go to rot is a right enough thing to do. The alternative is to just provide a Nature-respecting burial.

Oh well, I love Nature, but there are more critical issues too, so end of my words on this it'll now be.

p.s. by way of the poor polar bear, i mean 'extinct'...........

khc, jjohnjj made it up to try to make a point.

jjohnjj,

No link for your lies. Their was no child killed except for the poor bear. I checked Reuters and other news sites and they never mention a child killed. You must be a troll for the Icelandic cops who killed a desperate animal.

well actually the poor dead polar bear was a bit off course......he wanted to reach 'svalbard' a bit further north, where he heard there is a 'doomsday' seed vault located. being a polar bear, and not too 'apropos' to the terminology of human 'speak' he thought there might be 'food' for him. unfortunately for the poor bear he didn't realise that first, the 'vault' is protected from any intrusion by means of anything less than a 'catasrophic' event (use your own imagination) and that second, he would have to find somewhere to plant the seeds and nuture them and that third, he would have to contend with iceland......

yeah, great idea that 'doomsday' vault...........how many humans will be shot trying to reach it????? (none i suspect, as we will all have gone by way of the poor polar bear.)

kayaker, WTF? so let's go out and kill them all now? save them the trouble of trying to survive?

Judah Said: "...The articles about humans killing humans upset me more than articles about humans killing bears..."

Woah, Judah... Watch yourself there. Might get hurt on that real kinda original thinkin' ya know. I mean, what would the culture of human industrial civilization be without _your_ kind, afterall.... (What would it be, indeed...)

Kayaker Said: "...Total population of polar bears will be reduced drastically because of global warming and melting of ice. Most bears will die of starvation or will drown exhausted while searching for land. This one got a quick death. What would you have done…taken it home to play with your little brother?"

Yeah, get with the program, all, eh, kayaker? How about they would take it home to play with YOU?

This story and the comments by those who empathize with the cops and the fear of bear attacks and with "the reality of global warming", etc. (numbering way to many) are a lovely illustration of why we are so very irrefutably f*cked.

And also why industrial civilization is on the way out.

Workreno knows, and so do thousands of other human cultures who existed at one time on this planet, (and those who are lucky (and resistant) enough to still exist) before the likes of this culture started dominating it all, creating this very scenario... Most of us haven't a shred of a clue how to respect the lives of nonhumans, except to do what these disgusting excuses for human beings did...

Well. Polar bears are either with us or against us. We are in various Wars Against Abstract Nouns.

Total population of polar bears will be reduced drastically because of global warming and melting of ice. Most bears will die of starvation or will drown exhausted while searching for land. This one got a quick death. What would you have done...taken it home to play with your little brother?

jjohnjj's fictitious scenario justifying the bears killing is indicative of the fear mongering that leads to unnecessary tragedies. The parallel may seem exaggerated but it's the same mentality that says "we need to fight them over there so they don't kill us here".

Fear is not only the "mind killer", to quote Frank Herbert from Dune, it kills the innocent as well.

Ugh!

Reminds me of the time I was performing in Elliot Lake, Ontario; uranium mining town with 2 loaves of whole wheat among 1000 for sale at the hyper mart. Seems a cub got into the garbage one night, so the local posse was called and... well, you know the rest. A cub!

Please.

Disgusting. It shows the depths of human stupidity. For once the idiocy wasn't American. No, I guess there really is no hope for humanity.

This story will be more of a tragic account of humanity and its destruction of the planet's environment and its inhabitants when the last polar bear is found drowning in the Artic Sea's warm waters.

We need another name for Iceland after all the Ice melts. How about, We-have-to-import-everything-because-all-the-fish-have-died-and-we-can-not-grow-food-because-there-isn't-enough-sun-land.

I wonder how much Ketamine does it take to immobilize a polar bear? All vets have Ketamine, even in Iceland.

Funny to find out Iceland has trigger happy cops also. Must be all those days when the sun does not rise. I guess after a while you gotta shoot something. . .

Hey moderator, do you smell that? It's called sarcasm.

Okay, I'm done. . .

The articles about humans killing humans upset me more than articles about humans killing bears.

I guess this story goes to show that people in Iceland can be just as retarded as we Americans. We (humans) will indeed be the cause of the end of life on this planet. I have never been one of those "the world is gonna end people" but; A Mayan prophesy said the world will end in 2012. A recent article on Common Dreams about the disappearance of the honeybees contained this nugget: An authority no less than Albert Einstein said if the honeybees are gone, the humans have four years left, 2012. I'll end by quoting Jim Morrison: "I dion't know what's gonna happen but I'm gonna get my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames."

This from the country that still hunts whales commercially. Sigh. This just makes me sad.

Thank you, Lazuli, for the beautiful poem.

treated it like a Mexican swimming the Rio Grande...maybe they should have relocated it to the "Lost" island

An adult male at 250kg was lucky to be able to swim 200 miles. He probably hadn't eaten much, if anything, since last fall and would find only poor sealing on Iceland.

The tragedy is not the death of a single animal but the loss of habitat and threatened extinction of the entire species.

There is a special hell, and a special place in it, for abusers and thoughtless killers of animals, absent a need for food. Indigenous folk have an inate reason to kill their food, to which I attach no judgement; but this....
And by the way, having dominion over the animals means that humans have the responsibility of STEWARDSHIP - they go hand in glove, my friends. The Bible is clear on that.Just thought you'd like to know.

A caged ----( bear, killer whale , shark or what ever) kills human .

I am shocked!

Let's kill em all ,let god sort em out.

Can't be any other solution.

I doubt if that young gal felt honored. But, I wasn't there with her.

A female employee who worked at the Tucson AZ. zoo, was killed by one of her beloved bears. They always appeared to be playful and friendly. She mistakenly left one of the doors open, which should have been locked shut. The bear wasn't hungry either. Polar bears are a breed of their own, they're not like black bears, pandas, etc.

We must protect them, they are a very important animal, like all animals and their enviroment does not deserve to be ignored nor polluted by humanity. Neither does our planet deserve to be ignored or polluted, including it's atmosphere, forests and oceans.

The fact of the matter is I can't think of a more honorable way to die than at the hands one of the planets "other" animals.

Just Saturday while my brother and I were hiking out the ridge that we camped on that night we came across a bear skull along a long forgotten path .I wondered if I could be so fortunate as to feel the rain on my bones when my spirit leaves this body.

Sorry Mr. Bear we can find no way to profit from your existence other than killing you .

I live in the sticks there are bears all around my home. I've been within 20 feet of black bears several times in the woods. Granted black bears very rarely attack a human,but it is still a very invigorating experience.

One morning I awoke to find a bear rubbing it's nose on the side of the tent my wife and I were sleeping in.She just crouched deeper into the covers. I started talking to the bear and it left.

I watched a documentary film once of a man that lived in a remote part of Russia with Grizzly bears( actually nursing cubs who's mothers had been killed by hunters) armed with pepper spray only to prove that man and bear can indeed co-exist.

A guy I know after seeing " the only bobcat he'd ever seen in his life" could only exclaim " I wish I had my gun with me"

I'm not against hunting (I have chosen not to for about 10 year or more) ,but killing just for the sake of killing is simply immoral as I see things.

Maybe if man spent more time in books or in nature....

Yeah Right.

What was I thinking?

Someone wrote, "bears don't stalk people unless they run from them."

Uhhh, a hungry polar bear will stalk it's own mother. They are not "cute" white bears who advertize for Coca Cola, they are one of the strongest, vicious killing machines and best hunters of any animal on the planet, even though they are omnivorious. They also are very intelligent and some scientists classify them as aquatic mammals, for they have often been seen 200 or more miles out to sea swimmng back towards a shoreline.

If we humans had started to work on reducing Co2 in our atmosphere several years ago in a big way, it is likely the bear would have stayed home in Greenland. Which BTW actually is green now and getting greener by the day.

And therein lies the problem, as ~lillulu~ pointed out with the "un-frozen whale" story here. So what did our astute Senate do about reducing Greenhouse gases? The Repubs fillibustered the bill and then they voted it down. ___ Coal comes first.

McCain and Obama were absent, but said IF they had been there, they would have voted for it. ____ Send em a kiss. I think we are screwed. I also wonder how a bunch of guys could be smiling about anything when a child was just killed by the bear?

It's a sad day for all of us and it's gonna become a whole lot sadder if we don't act very soon on the most important issue humanity has ever had to deal with. _____ "Global Warming".

Today a polar bear died.
Count them, one by one
There are so few.
They sat there behind
The blurry white mound
In the grainy photo
Rifles in hand
Smiles on their faces
Proud to have killed
The one who swam
Until muscles and sinews
Wanted to burst, but a heart
With strength and instinct
Pounded on looking for survival.
These men will someday
Crumple, succumb to
Fatty veins and disease.
Count them one by one
Until they are gone.

NativeSon, When scientists overflew that uncontacted Amazon tribe, the tribesmen responded by trying to kill them. I'm pretty sure that if a polar bear lumbered up to them, they would have killed it too. For that, I don't blame them, but I don't honor them for it either.

Had the bear been saved it would have been a powerful statement. Such statements are made all of the time when wild animals are safely captured and returned to wilder environments. Lots of Subaru driving, iPhone toting cosmopolitans with European names are out there rescuing wild animals. That's why this one is so shocking.

Those who are more "connected to nature," (those who live in the woods) don't like being mauled by animals any more than suburbanites. And as far as I know most of them "harmonize" in part by killing other creatures. There are plenty of things we can respect about them without creating bogus traits.

I'm rather impressed that so many city-slickers have grown to appreciate living things so much that we want to protect them even if they serve no direct practical value to us. No resting on laurels, but no bogus comparisons either.

Of course this had to happen. After all, are not human beings the most important of all the other creatures?

One more time, human domination of the planet, has shown it's uncompromising stance on that domination. Human beings at least modern human beings are incapable of living in harmony with the rest of creation/evolution unless they LEARN to live in HARMONY. Actually Human Beings in their "natural" form are free of many of the defects of those in the present day "representation". The so called "primitive human beings" live in harmony with their entire environment because they recognize that they are "directly connected" to that environment. Modern Human beings, in most settings have been convinced that they have been given the authority over all other life forms via some abstract Deity, or teaching of some prophet who "speaks" for that abstract Deity. And therefore NOT CONNECTED TO NATURE.
Modern Human beings may well be on their way to extinction, and the survivors will be those who are able to realize that they are PART OF NATURE, not ABOVE it with AUTHORITY.
This story should be used as an example for those who wish others to learn to live in harmony with nature----for some it may be an "affirmation" of human POWER-----but it is only an illusion of POWER---------how much more powerful would their statement have been had the Bear been allowed to live?
The fact that so many readers took objection to the killing of the Bear----just may very well be a positive signal. That survivors of the inevitable destiny of Human Beings who cannot, for whatever reason, learn to live in harmony with nature---- will go on, while the others will most likely die of----or kill each other off.
I am sure that the Bear, described as an adult has been able to reproduce and pass on those genes to another generation, who may swim 200 miles in the open icy seas of the future, (where humans do not dominate) and reproduce with other Bears who did the same.

OK, so I wasn't there. I can't honestly say, after reading just one article, what the right thing to do was.
But what gripes my ass-is that the shooters posed for a picture with the carcus! There's no honor in that.

JerryRigged said "The US attacks Iraq and destroys it, just in case it might do us harm"

I don't think that's why the US attacked Iraq. They knew very well it posed no threat. They are right now accompishing their purpose, if they can get their proposal regarding permanent US occupation signed into law.

rtdrury: "Part of the progressive K-12 civics curriculum is to teach people how to get along on this planet. Field trips to interact with the wild animals, etc."

Apparently, Icelanders didn't get the benefit of that curriculum. I don't think they should be eaten because of it.

"Bears do not stalk people unless people run from them."

I am positive you are correct. Of course, there are no bears in my office so I can afford to believe you. I'll let you know if my confidence is shaken next time I'm staring one down in person.

edit: Sorry. I agree with your general point. I will be less of a jerk in the future.

jjohnjj, Thanks for the extra effort to provide more context.

I can't believe I have twice in this forum in about a week defended (tepidly) cops or military officers.

This reminds me of "Stripes" when Bill Murray said about Old Yeller" that you can slaughter thousands in a war movie but if you "kill one damn dog" the tears start flowing.

Wow. What an amazing planet. A bear that just swam 200 miles should be respected. Bears do not stalk people unless people run from them. People should be trained to responsibly cohabitate the planet with their fellow creatures. Shooting the bear to keep people in a secure, but ignorant, fearful, helpless, dependent state of mind only creates more problems. Part of the progressive K-12 civics curriculum is to teach people how to get along on this planet. Field trips to interact with the wild animals, etc.

Given that the last time a polar bear arrived in iceland was 15 years ago, it's not surprising that the police didn't develop a special "polar bear response plan." So the cops didn't have a clue as how to respond, go figure.

I'm sure everyone here would have been a regular Jonny-on-the-Spot, but I would have pooped my pants, scratched my head, and said "What the f--- do I do now."

I expect more from cops, and someone should have at least called the SPCA or the zoo or something. And not blocking the road was pretty dumb. But then regular bears turn up around my neck of the woods every now and again, so the cops know how to deal with it. But for these guys, it's a pretty extraordinary event.

Up until the bear was shot, it's clear they didn't handle it well, but that's not worthy of vicious hatred. As for the gruesome ending, according to the article, they didn't shoot the bear until it headed toward the crowd. At that point they had left themselves no options. Even stupid people should be protected from digestion by bears.

So, yeah, they screwed up bad. But they didn't yell "YEE HAW! Kill me some BAAR!" and run out guns ablaze.

And the comparison to evil Bambi murderin' hunters is just silly. As is the portrayal of hunters as some sort of terrible threat to society. I'm pretty sure the plant that packed my morning bacon has poisoned more people with effluent than have ever even heard the crack of a hunters rifle. And I'd bet dollars to donuts that more people have been poisoned by contaminated vegetables as well.

Sometimes the comments here sound like the rants of the 6:00 news: "Is a dangerous pervert lurking in your backyard? Will the eco-terrorists target your daughter next? Will a hunter shoot your tractor?"

I've never hunted; I just couldn't kill a cute furry animal no matter how delicious. But there are too many really bad things in this world to waste time worrying about people who kill and butcher their own meat.

Friday, June 6 2008
POLAR BEAR KILLS CHILD IN ICELAND

Reuters - Karin Bjornsdottir, the eleven-year-old daughter of a local farmer, was attacked and killed by a polar bear outside her home near Skagafjordur in northern Iceland. Polar Bears are not native to Iceland and have not been seen there since the middle ages.

The animal swam ashore early Friday, possibly from Greenland, over 200 miles distant. Authorities tracked the animal while waiting for a tranquilizer gun to arrive. But the bear eluded them and dissappeared into fog covered hills. Six hours later Karin's father called authorities to say that his daughter had been mauled by a bear while tending the family garden. She died before medical help could arrive...

--------------------------------------------------------------

Cops have nightmares about being responsible for a story like this... cut 'em some slack. We weren't there.

Until we achieve a very different consensus about the value of natural life vs the value of human life, there will continue to be tragedies like this.

Little Brother, you would enjoy the movie "Affliction".

The picture tells the whole story.

Another trophy killing. Sometimes cops pose with the dead humans that they also 'hunt' down.

At least this polar bear isn't going to face extinction.

life is beautiful

Good news. GreenPeace now has the story and will send it to all stations for public print and circulation. The ground-swell is beginning. I plan to follow up with them on the story.

I don't know if it's the same white-mittens story as noted above, but I also recall a story on TV about some elderly hunter who capped a woman wearing white gloves in her yard.

This was a small town in New England, IIRC, and the killer was a solid citizen who was well-liked in the town.

It sticks in my mind because the townspeople interviewed about this incident were mostly pissed off at the WOMAN for being dumb and careless enough to wear white gloves within rifle shot of the woods during hunting season. I believe that they were still trying to decide whether to even charge the hunter with a crime.

If it was up to the townsfolk-- at least, the ones televised-- they'd have preferred to charge the deceased woman with criminal mischief.

I left a message with the Media Department at GreenPeace. Hopefully they will take a look at the article and ensure it gets circulated. Can anyone else contact another global organization and get the article to them?

I can't watch the video clip of the shooting, it will hurt too much. This is so sad, and such a commentary on human idiocy.

If someone can tell me how to put this story on Facebook, I will do it. I do not have YouTube or MySpace, but if someone else does, send it to your friends and tell them to send it to their friends...

Does anyone know a local radio discjockey who can get this story out? Does anyone know a local journalist who can run this story in the newspaper? I remember a few years ago when an irate driver reached into a woman's car and tossed her dog into oncoming traffic. The story hit the radio airwaves and a bounty was put out for the road-raged lunatic. Within a half-hour the story was all over the West Coast. Obviously Iceland is a little far away, nonetheless, if word got out among the public...

Stupid is what stupid does. The US attacks Iraq and destroys it, just in case it might do us harm, and Icelandic police kill a polar bear trying to survive just in case it might harm someone. The world is controlled and run by madmen.

Its time to start enforcing the consitutional right to arm bears.