Cruise ship guards' killing of polar bear sparks international outrage

[SunSeeker]

Source: CBS News


Norwegian authorities on Monday defended the actions of guards from a German cruise ship that killed a polar bear that had attacked and injured a crew member, saying they at first tried to scare it away. Police spokesman Ole Jakob Malmo said two members of the 12-man crew that set foot on the most northern island of the Svalbard archipelago ahead of tourists on Saturday first tried to ward off the bear "by shouting and making loud noises as well as firing a signal pistol, but to no effect."

A 42-year-old German man who was not identified sustained minor head injuries from the attack, Malmo said.

British comedian Ricky Gervais took to Twitter to call the tourists "morons," while another user, Jane Roberts, said that if such tourism was banned, guards "wouldn't be needed to protect gawking tourists & polar bears would be left in peace & not shot dead merely to satisfy a photo op."

"Let's get too close to a polar bear in its natural environment and then kill it if it gets too close". Morons. https://t.co/FEPt0sYOtF

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) July 29, 2018



Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/polar-bear-killed-cruise-ship-guards-norway-outrage-authorities-respond-today-2018-07-30/

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The poor polar bear looks emaciated, with its hip bone protruding from its carcass. It no doubt was starving, which is why it attacked that idiot.

[secondwind]

1. Too sad for words. 😢

[FailureToCommunicate]

2. Let's ruin their environment, then kill them when they get too close to our selfies. Sounds like...

sounds just like, der Trumpenland.

[SunSeeker]

3. Yup, another "good guy with a gun."

[FirstLight]

4. dammitt

just when I had seen some good news today and now this... I should not have looked.

What greed and stupid entitlement has done to indigenous cultures and animals is beyond rape.
I hate humans, so much.
now to go cry in my wine...

[cab67]

5. sad, but...

I have several friends who do field work in polar bear territory. Their funding is contingent on demonstrating that they own, and know how to use, a rifle. None has ever had to actually shoot a polar bear, thankfully, but there have been some close calls.

Polar bears aren't afraid of humans the way other bears are, and although attacks on humans are unlikely right after a polar bear has eaten, it doesn't take outright starvation to prompt a polar bear to treat a human as prey.

We should be doing everything we can to conserve and protect the polar bear as a species. That does not mean, however, that we can prevent all human-polar bear interactions from going badly, as this one did.

[SunSeeker]

7. They should not have gotten off their boat with the bear there.

Plus, it is obvious the bear is emaciated. Ask your field work friends.

The cruise line should be fined for it's negligence that resulted in this bear's death.

Your field works friends have to be in the bears' territory in order to do their field work. Cruise ship passengers do not need to be in the bears dwindling habitat.

[cab67]

9. I did.

That the bear looks emaciated doesn't really enter into it. Really.

I do agree that the disembarkation should not have taken place if they knew the bear was there.

[Jack-o-Lantern]

6. Thrill killing no doubt.

[cab67]

11. not really.

See my comment above - polar bears are more prone than other mammalian predators to attack humans. In this case, the bear was, in fact, attacking someone. It was shot to defend someone.

The person should never have been close enough to the bear to be attacked.

[Solly Mack]

8. Fuckers

POS

Garbage

[IronLionZion]

10. It's best to steer clear of polar bears and just not even set foot on their territory

yes, it's true that they are willing to kill us without any reason, even if they're not hungry. So it's best to just avoid them completely as they are the most dangerous land predator.

Humans wouldn't want to be walking around near other large predators either.

[cab67]

12. agreed

[Bayard]

13. REALLY pisses me off!

If you see a bear, don't get off your damn boat! Yes, the bear looks like its starving. Let him scavenge in peace on his own turf. Better yet--feed him a tourist.