Polar Bear sightings in Iceland had almost become extinct until a recent occurrence. A rare appearance was made by a polar bear outside a cottage in a remote village of Iceland. The bear was shot a police assuming it would pose as a threat to the local residents. The bear was killed on September 19 after consulting the environment agency which noty only decided to kill the animal but also opted against its relocation.
“It's not something we like to do,” Westfjords police chief Helgi Jensson was quoted as saying by AP, adding that the bear was very close to a summer house. “There was an old woman in there.” Teh woman whom lived in that house locked herself up in her house out of fear as the bear wandered around her house and even scammblled through her garbage. The woman reached out to her daughter in Reykjavik through satellite link.
AP
How was the bear spotted in Iceland?
Polar bears are mostly not native to Iceland but they sometimes drift from Greenland on ice floes. In Iceland, there have only been about 600 polar bear sightings since the 9th century. The bear, weighing between 150 and 200 kilograms, will be sent to the Icelandic Institute of Natural History for research. Scientists plan to check it for parasites and infections, evaluate its organ health, body fat, and possibly preserve its pelt and skull for the institute's collection.
Canva
Despite being a protected species in Iceland, polar bears can still be killed by authorities if they endanger humans or livestock. Although polar bear attacks on people are extremely rare, a 2017 study discovered that as a result of sea ice melting brought on by climate change, more bears are venturing onto land in search of food, raising the possibility of contacts with people. In the five polar bear-inhabited countries (Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and the United States), there were 73 recorded polar bear assaults between 1870 and 2014, with 20 fatalities and 63 injuries.
