A polar bear was shot by a Rus­si­an sci­en­tist on August 09 on Prins Karls For­land (see Polar bear shot on Prins Karls For­land). The cir­cum­s­tances see­med doubtful: it appears that no serious attempt had been made to sca­re the polar bear away with non-lethal methods and the lethal shot was fired at a very ear­ly stage of the encoun­ter from the lar­ge distance of 130 (!) met­res. Addi­tio­nal­ly, the aut­ho­ri­ties were only infor­med about the inci­dent the fol­lo­wing day and not imme­dia­te­ly, as requi­red.

It was a two year old fema­le, weig­hing 155 kg. The ani­mal had been mark­ed befo­re.

The case was han­ded over by the Sys­sel­man­nen in Lon­gye­ar­by­en to the public pro­se­cu­tor in Trom­sø. The reason may have been the juri­di­cal and public cha­rac­ter of the case. When con­side­ring the spar­se infor­ma­ti­on that is available, one may quick­ly be tempt­ed to con­clude that the kil­ling may have been a cri­mi­nal offen­se.

Now the ver­dict from Trom­sø is the­re: the sci­en­tist who had fired the dead­ly shot is con­dem­ned to pay a fine of NOK 15000,- (ca. 1670 Euro). The man has accept­ed the fine, hence the ver­dict is effec­ti­ve.

Char­ges against the other three per­sons who were in the camp tog­e­ther with the shoo­ter have been dis­missed.

Source: Sys­sel­man­nen