A rare polar bear spotted near a cottage in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being deemed a threat, authorities reported on Friday.
The incident occurred Thursday afternoon in northwest Iceland, where police, after consulting with the Environment Agency, decided against relocating the bear. Westfjords Police Chief Helgi Jensson told The Associated Press, “It’s not something we like to do. However, as you can see in the picture, the bear was dangerously close to a summer house where an elderly woman was inside.”
The frightened homeowner locked herself upstairs while the bear rummaged through her garbage. She managed to reach out to her daughter in Reykjavik, the capital, for help via satellite link. “She stayed there,” Jensson noted, explaining that other summer residents had already left the area. “She knew the danger.”
In related news, scientists have begun attaching cameras to polar bears to monitor behavioral changes as their icy habitats diminish. Although polar bears are not native to Iceland, they occasionally drift ashore after traveling on ice floes from Greenland, according to Anna Sveinsdóttir, director of scientific collections at the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. Recent weeks have seen an increase in icebergs off the north coast, highlighting the bears’ unusual presence.
While polar bear attacks on humans are extremely rare, a 2017 study published in the Wildlife Society Bulletin noted that global warming is driving hungry bears onto land, increasing the likelihood of human encounters and risks for both species. From 1870 to 2014, there were 73 documented polar bear attacks across Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia, and the United States, resulting in 20 fatalities and 63 injuries; notably, 15 of these incidents occurred in the last five years of that period.
The bear shot on Thursday marked the first sighting in Iceland since 2016. Such sightings are uncommon, with only 600 recorded in the country since the ninth century. While polar bears are a protected species in Iceland, and killing one at sea is prohibited, they can be euthanized if they pose a threat to humans or livestock.
In response to past bear arrivals, the environment minister established a task force in 2008 to evaluate the situation. The task force ultimately concluded that culling vagrant bears was the most suitable course of action to ensure public safety.
The group concluded that the nonnative polar bear posed a significant threat to both people and livestock, and the cost of relocating it back to Greenland—approximately 300 kilometers (180 miles) away—was prohibitively high. They also noted that there is a robust polar bear population in eastern Greenland, likely the bear’s original habitat.
The young bear, weighing between 150 and 200 kilograms (300 to 400 pounds), will be transported to the Icelandic Institute of Natural History for further study. On Friday, scientists collected samples from the bear to assess its health. They will be examining it for parasites and infections, evaluating its organ health and body fat percentage. Additionally, the bear’s pelt and skull may be preserved for the institute’s collection.
To ensure no other bears were in the vicinity, a Coast Guard helicopter surveyed the area where the bear was found but reported no further sightings. Following the incident, the woman who initially alerted authorities chose to extend her stay in the village, according to Jensson.
