Trøndelag police district stated in a press release that the man who had shot alerted the police at 17.20 on Sunday.
The bear is a fully protected animal, and the man who shot has therefore been given the status of a suspect.
The suspect, who is connected to the reindeer husbandry in the area, has explained that the bears were shot because they attacked reindeer calves, says Amund Sand, police lawyer in Trøndelag police district.
Has explained that the bears attacked reindeer
Prior to the incident, ten reindeer calves were found and bears are also said to have been observed.
– Under supervision of the reindeer yesterday, this person came across the bear and these cubs, the police attorney says.
In addition to the ten dead reindeer calves that were found prior to the incident, four new dead reindeer calves were found on Sunday afternoon.
– What has the person in question explained?
– I can not go into that in great detail, but we perceive the person there that he thinks this was a situation was that all these three bears attacked the calves.
In addition to the suspect, the police have questioned witnesses who were in the mountain area when the bears were shot. These witnesses should not have been in the immediate vicinity.
– As far as I have an overview of, there are no witnesses to what happened, no, says Sand.
Five-year sentence
Owners of domestic reindeer, or others acting on behalf of the owner, may kill game when deemed necessary due to an ongoing or imminent attack on domestic reindeer.
The police will now investigate whether the bears were shot in a legal emergency.
– What you do then is to investigate the crime scene where this has happened, to get a clarification on whether this corresponds to something that is a legal emergency, Sand says.
The police have secured the dead bears, and will assess the extent to which they must make further investigations of these carcasses, Sand says.
The man risks punishment if the bears were not shot in legal custody. The penalty for violating the Biodiversity Act is imprisonment for up to five years.
Shot in management area for bears
It will take time before the police decide whether to bring charges against the suspect.
– These are difficult cases and it is a difficult topic to clarify. It will probably take some time before we have concluded, says police attorney Sand.
The bear was shot in a bear management area. In these management areas, the bear is a priority and breeding is facilitated.
The police attorney says that if the man acted in self-defense, it will be legal, also in an administrative area for bears.
– But if it is not, then you have done something that is not legal and that has been done in an area where it should not happen, Sand says.
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