Police have shot and killed a polar bear that came ashore in northwestern Iceland, the first sighting of a polar bear there since 2016. It might have hitched a ride from Greenland on a floating iceberg.
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Here in the states, we shot a gorilla once.
It, uh, . . . It didn’t go very well for a long time after that.
Personally I’d recommend some other approach. But that’s just me.
I think there’s a slight difference in a captive gorilla and wild polar bear.
I mean (unrelated but still) I think a polar bear could 1v1 a gorilla. Meaning I think a polar bear is more dangerous. Especially a hungry one, that’s able to just walk into a population center.
I too wish they could’ve saved the bear, but I don’t think people are gonna complain about this as much as with Harambe (RIP)
Like even if anaesthesia was an option, they’d still have had to give it a ride back, or build it a home. And building zoos just isn’t too popular nowadays imo.
I think a polar bear could 1v1 a gorilla. Meaning I think a polar bear is more dangerous.
An inuit friend once told me a polar bear could hunt, stalk, kill and eat you in about 8 minutes. I’m told the conversion from Minutes to Treadwells says it’s longer, but I didn’t check whether he was putting me on.
a hungry one, that’s able to just walk into a population center
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/13/churchill-canada-polar-bear-capital
It takes a lot of training and a little acceptance. Note, in the article above, the term ‘medical bills’, which in Canada doesn’t mean “cash for care” so much as “rent and food during recovery”, which aren’t covered by insurance.
Polar bears are three times the size and weight of a silverback. They could likely prevail in a 1v2 or 1v3. 1v4 would be a fair fight.
I mean, 1v1 is easy, 1v2 maybe even, but if there’s a group of silverbacks, what with being somewhat smart and sturdy themselves, I think they could occasionally even get a win.
I’ve never seen a gorilla irl, but I’ve seen a taxidermied polar bear, and holy fuck those things are big. But then I think of just how versatile opposable thumbs are and of how insanely thick gorilla muscles are.
I’m marking this as a thing I’d like to know but probably never will, what with the moral implications of setting animals on each other in blood sports.
Gorillas don’t have much for protection. The bear has 4" of fat “armor”. The gorillas won’t be able to bite or tear flesh.
My thinking is that if the bear is able to grab one of the gorillas, it will be disabled pretty much instantly. Unless the remaining gorilla(s) can press their momentary advantage while the bear is distracted, it’s just going to rip them apart one by one.
1v4, they might have enough clout to keep the bear immobilized long enough to kill it.
Gorillas don’t have much for protection. The bear has 4" of fat “armor”. The gorillas won’t be able to bite or tear flesh.
Oh yeah this is very true. But like several of them manhandling one, idk. Might be out of their capacity for coordination, though.
Yeah, with adequate coordination, the gorillas should prevail in a 1v3. But I think they tend to fight more like individuals than as a pack.
I’m just saying that the romans stopped putting bears into fights in the colloseum because it got boring - the bears qust wrecked everything else the romans could get their hands on.
Or so I’ve heard, I’m not a historian.
I believe this.
And they didn’t even have polar bears afaik.
Romans should’ve put Silverfang in the ring.
Build a wall?
Wall, net, alert system, radar, video feeds, traps of some sort to relocate the bear to [some sort of arctica].
There are solutions where the bear doesn’t get shot, obviously. They just cost money. That’s all.
And there’s the rub.
Well, now I’m sad.
humans do not deserve animals
This is going to be increasing in the coming years. The ice is melting, and they will be forced onto land to look for food.
That’s a lot of justification for killing something that can go fishing for food.
polar bears will absolutely hunt humans for food without a second thought. And you will not be able to outrun them or scare them away.
This one came quite close to homes, which is a reason for almost all towns with polar bears in the area to shoot them.
That this bear was the first in quite a while is a sad thing, but it’s understandable that the town doesn’t want a bear mauling people for a snack
Read the article. They don’t even go onto that. They have a shoot on sight policy regardless.
This reads like it’s justified.
We destroy their habitats so they need to come to us to survive only to get killed by us.
Sounds like we are just bad guys.
If it’s black, fight back. If it’s brown, lie down. If it’s white, good night.
See also: The town where guns are required
Except that’s not how Polar Bears prefer to hunt. They prefer to hunt by holes over pack ice, where they wait for animals like seals to surface for air. When there’s no pack ice, which is what is happening thanks to global warming, they hunt for whatever they can on land. And if that land is inhabited by humans, that means humans.
I would say the potential to kill and eat humans, including infants, is excellent justification.
Does it suck that this is our fault to begin with? Absolutely. That doesn’t mean that human lives should be put at risk as well.
So tranquilizers and trailers don’t exist in Iceland? They couldn’t just send it back to Greenland?
So no map? You said it wasn’t an immediate threat. Where’s your evidence?
Also, why are you assuming it came from Greenland and why are you assuming that it would survive just being dropped off in some random place in the humongous island of Greenland anyway?
The article, read the article.
The article that says relocating it to Greenland was a non-starter?
The article that says this?
Greenland is an autonomous territory but also part of Denmark — refusing permission either on the grounds of concerns about disease, or because of the local population not being keen on a larger polar bear population on its glacier.
Yes that part and the part about the bear being in the trash outside. Not an immediate threat.
Again, please show me the map which shows how far away the bear was from a populated settlement.
Humans have lived in polar bear territory for centuries though. So we know it’s possible. Shooting endangered animals on sight because you don’t want to learn how to co-habitate a region is just peak shitty human.
And they’re bears they can absolutely find other sources of food without killing humans.
Yes, and those people all have guns to shoot polar bears.
That says you’re supposed to scare them off first. Shooting them is a last resort. Not the first resort. In Iceland they made it the first resort by law. That’s the issue.
Got it. As long as the children have a way of scaring off the hungry polar bear when it gets to the school playground, no worries.
So polar bears are basically dingos?
…no?
No but also yes.
But almost entirely no.
A polar bear ate my baby!
Also not true!
Dingos would hunt at packice holes if they had access to them?
Yes.
I wouldn’t say it’s sufficient justification, to be honest. I guess it depends on the population to some degree. But since we caused this problem, I would say moving even a whole village out of polar bear habitat is worth the cost of shooting even one, and we can suppose there will be more to come. I think we have a responsibility to get the hell out of their space, even at a huge cost to us.
Villages live in polar bear territory in Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia, and Russia just fine. So Iceland has to learn some new rules. It’s no reason to contribute to the extinction of a species.
Sorry… you think an entire village needs to be moved when a polar bear is seen in Iceland? How would that even work?
What do you mean how would that work? Polar bear habitat is declared national park, inhabitants get assistance moving elsewhere. Extremely expensive? Yes. Complicated? Not really.
I get that people aren’t gonna go for this, but I stand by the position that it would be the ethically correct thing, and we should be honest with ourselves that we are compromising on that.
There are still literally tens of thousands of polar bears.
As a global population for a species, that’s low.
But as something that would mean relocating entire towns full of people — when towns are usually doing something important production wise and can’t just be moved willy nilly — that’s a whole lot.
“Move an entire town”
Then half a year later when the bear moves to another town, do it again. And again. And again.
Seriously? Do you know the size of the town compared to the national population in Iceland?
That’s just a logistical nightmare which wouldn’t even accomplish any of the virtues you’re signaling so hard.
The polar bears aren’t following the people. It can absolutely hunt (and would prefer) a coastline.
Do you know where most towns in Iceland are?
On the coast.
Did you even read the headline of this article? This is the first polar bear seen in Iceland since 2016. They swim.
Where exactly is this habitat supposed to be? The entire coast?
If humans had any respect at all for the natural world, they’d feed themselves to the bear.
Okay, we’ll put you down as part of the “children should be eaten by bears if they had any respect for the natural world” faction.
but can they actually go fishing for food? If a wild animal is wandering into human territory, there is usually a resource-limiting reason for it.
According to Iceland the entire island is human territory. I’m going to press F to doubt.
And they very much can. This was a rural home, not some suburb. But even that wouldn’t be the first time in the North.
https://news.ucsc.edu/2013/03/polar-bear-genomics.html
Polar bear brown bear hybridization
ACAB
cubs? disagree
All cops are bears
Depends on the night club
If you’re going to regularly shoot a polar bear every 8 years, that seems like you’re starting a new tradition rather than following a policy.
Polar bears hunt humans for food. You cannot scare them away, you and your loved ones are prey. You will not win a fight against them, they are too big and too strong.
Unless you are fine being dinner, then yes, the polar bear is getting shot.
I side with the bears. We have enough humans.
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https://www.dw.com/en/iceland-police-shoot-1st-polar-bear-sighted-in-years/a-70287266
Yet again, fuck off bitchbot.
