The Icelandic police shot a polar bear that had strayed into the cottage’s yard.
A polar bear filmed in Russia in 2019. Zapolyarnaya Pravda/The Siberian, Zapolyarnaya Pravda/The Siberian Times
Police shot a rare polar bear in a remote Icelandic village. The polar bear was spotted outside the cabin on Thursday and was considered a threat, local officials said.
The old woman inside the cabin scared the bear and locked herself upstairs. The woman contacted her daughter and asked for help. A polar bear is littering the yard of the cottage.
According to the Icelandic public radio RÚV, police officers from the capital region and the Westfjord area were transported to the scene. The police had consulted the environmental agency, but it refused to relocate the animal. In the end, it was decided to euthanize the polar bear.
– It was not to our liking, Westfjords police chief Helgi Jensson told the Associated Press.
– In this case, the bear was very close to the summer house. There was an old woman inside.
According to AP, it was a young polar bear that weighed 150-200 kilograms. The shot polar bear will be taken to the Icelandic Natural History Research Center for examination. In addition, the coast guard ensured that no other polar bears were found in the area.
Polar bears are rare in Iceland. They don’t live naturally in Iceland, but sometimes they stray with the ice from Greenland. Several icebergs have been spotted off the north coast of Iceland in recent weeks. According to AP, the last time a polar bear was seen in Iceland was in 2016.
In Iceland, the polar bear is protected. Killing them is only allowed if they threaten people or domestic animals.
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