As you may be able to make out there was a polar bear in them there hills. Now polar bears are not native to Iceland but have been known to wander here via iceberg flows from Greenland. Yesterday was a rather lovely day but as they were chasing the bear the fog started to descend. This seems to have caused a bit of panic amongst those trying to work out what to do. You see we keep horses and sheep free range in those very same hills and so having a bear wandering loose could perhaps maybe have resulted in some dead domesticated animals. As there seemed to be at least 10 armed men up there all really really eager to make a "kill", the poor old bear really didn´t have a chance. True, the "experts" on site did not have the right tranquilisers, the tranquiliser gun at Egilsstaðir was broken and well, we don´t have any suitable cages or storage areas (polar bear proof) - and the question also arose as to how it could be transported back to Greenland.... All these questions and problems made the decision to shoot bjössi bear that much more logical.
Aterwards everyone else (particularly those living in the south - very far away from the big cuddly bear) were most upset. Now there are calls for action plans to be drawn up on how to safely drug wandering polar bears and remove them back to the wild. Which is all well and good. However, given the fact that
1. No one was prepared.
2. They didn´t close the road (this is a main artery between Saudarkrok and the south and west of Iceland), so lots and lots of human food was standing and gaulking.
3. The smell of blood had penetrated the "hunters" skin.
4. What were we going to do with it once caught? I mean who knows where home was - maybe he didn´t want to go home. Perhaps he had been ostrasised by the bears back home and decided to go on a really big adventure????
Ah yes a dilemna...
and then it started chasing the hunters down the hill....
RUN AWAY
4 comments:
I'm sick about the killing of the polar bear. I think their decision to kill it was too hasty. Granted, there were many things which posed a problem as you mentioned, but somehow I think the bear could have been saved. Should have been saved.
True, it should have been saved, but they just weren´t prepared. Basic reactions took over.
The killing of the polar bear totally took away from the coolness of it being there, however there is a slight amusement factor there.
People are still talking about it. Now in the staff room there were discussions about the police behaviour. Sounds a bit like Keystone cops.
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