Polar bear kills teen, seriously injures 4 others

[Liberal_in_LA]

Polar bear mauls young camper to death in Norway

OSLO, Norway — A polar bear attacked British campers on Friday, killing a 17-year-old boy and seriously injuring four people in Norway's Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic, officials said.

The bear entered a tent camp of the British Schools Exploring Society, a youth development charity, some 25 miles east of the town of Longyearbyen, said Liv Asta Oedegaard, spokeswoman for the Svalbard governor's office.

"The person killed is a 17-year-old boy, a British citizen, and the others are also British citizens," she said.

She said the injured — aged 16, 17, 27 and 29 and all males — were flown by helicopter to Longyearbyen hospital and then by airplane to Tromsoe on the Norwegian mainland.

"Their injuries are serious," Oedegaard said.

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"Patrick was trying to fend off the polar bear by hitting it on the nose — why, I don't know, but he did and ... the polar bear attacked him with his right paw across his face and his head and his arm," the boy's father, Terry Flinders, was quoted by the BBC as saying.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44031117/ns/world_news-europe/t/polar-bear-mauls-young-camper-death-norway/#.TjxSMWGLGU0

[markpkessinger]

1. What are they doing camping in polar bear territory without a gun?

I'm not big on hunting or anything (although I did grow up in a family of hunters), but if you're going to be camping (in TENTS no less) in polar bear country, then you had best go prepared to defend yourself against a polar bear attack.

[Beaverhausen]

10. Polar Bears are on the brink of becoming endangered and should not be shot...

...simply for being polar bears. This is tragic but the answer isn't to shoot a wild animal who attacks.

[markpkessinger]

13. Every being's first moral and ethical obligation is to defend itself...

...that goes for humans as well as for other species. Anyone being attacked has every right, and indeed should, protect himself/herself in any way he or she can, including shooting an attacking animal if it comes to that.

That said, I think it is fair to question the wisdom of camping in tents in known polar bear territory.

[bluestate10]

16. I agree. If the bear was attacking, someone should have had a gun to

blow it's brains out.

[slackmaster]

21. Fortunately in this case, someone did

...After the attack the bear was killed by an armed member of the British group...

[madmom]

19. It helps if you read the full article....

"After the attack the bear was killed by an armed member of the British group, she said,"....

[markpkessinger]

20. You're right ... should have read more thoroughly

...thanks for pointing it out.

But still...TENTS? in polar bear country? It's madness.

[Citizen Worker]

2. Pepper spray, where was the pepper spray?

[slackmaster]

3. I have a bit of wilderness knowledge and experience and I have NEVER heard anyone suggest hitting...

...a bear. The usual advice is to A) make yourself look as large as possible and B) make lots of noise using any available means.

Personally I never go unarmed to areas that have dangerous animals or people. My usual weapon is a handgun.

[Liberal_in_LA]

5. They had trip wires to warn themselves if bears approached.

[markpkessinger]

7. OK, so they get advance warning that they're about to be mauled...

... then what?

[Liberal_in_LA]

9. They make a hasty retreat.... I guess

[markpkessinger]

17. You're not going to outrun a polar bear, particularly over the short run n/t

[Beaverhausen]

11. It's sharks one is supposed to hit in the nose

[markpkessinger]

15. Polar bears are HUGE

So I doubt making oneself as big as possible will be much of a deterrent.

[hobbit709]

4. apex predator vs. ambulating hors d'oeuvre.

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. Polar bears are pretty feriocious for all their cuteness

Remember this lady who tried to swim with the polar bears (Climbed into the exhibit at zoo). She survived. Look at the massive muscles on this polar bear.

[closeupready]

12. I believe they are the most dangerous land animal in terms of attacks on people.

Sad.

[markpkessinger]

18. Indeed. "Cute," maybe, but "cuddly?" DEFINITELY NOT. n/t

[banned from Kos]

6. Seven billion humans - a few thousand polar bears

I know where my sympathy is.

[TheKentuckian]

14. We need to stop pushing these creatures to the extremes and destroying their

territory.

People where they don't belong, I sez.