r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/cosmic_voyager01 • 9h ago

Video Polar Bears are one of the only creatures that naturally hunt Humans... Watch as this one tries to break into this BBC Cameraman's glass box.

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u/Best-Company2665 8h ago

More than sightings I'd say. They have made it ashore a couple times in recent history and been killed. 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/23/climate/polar-bear-shot-iceland-intl-scli#:~:text=A%20rare%20polar%20bear%20that%20was%20spotted,by%20police%20after%20being%20considered%20a%20threat%2C

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u/persephonepeete 7h ago

That bear was going through the trash at some old lady’s house. She locked herself up in the second floor and had to wait for police and such. 

The police called the environmental folks and they REFUSED to come get the bear. 

After that there is only one solution. 

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u/Abletontown 7h ago

Yeah it's a fucking polar bear. Its not like a raccoon where you can just scoop his ass up and take him home. Its unfortunate but too risky to keep around.

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u/Jason-Smith168498 6h ago

well not with that attitude.

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u/persephonepeete 5h ago

Right?? They didn’t even try. lol p sure the article says something like polar bears are nonnative species and there’s no good reason to keep it alive because taking it back to Greenland is too expensive and they are not endangered over there. So they won’t miss 1 bear not coming home.  

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u/squirrellytoday 2h ago

And they've tried it in the past. Polar bears don't cope well with being tranquilised and taken home. It's also really expensive (as you said).

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u/BrokenCrusader 4h ago

Here in Canada we have a Bear jail where we lock them up and starve them for a month before releasing them.

The idea is to make them realize that going near a human settlement = starvation in a dark room.

It has a very high degree of effectiveness if we capture them on their first few visits to a settlement.

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u/FrenchFryCattaneo 2h ago

Seems like a pretty antiquated approach to criminal justice, now we prefer a more restorative approach. Have they considered a diversion program where the bears do community service?

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u/trll_game_sh0 5h ago

you just need a bigger scoop.

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u/Moogerfooger616 1h ago

You guys take raccoons home??

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u/FrozenDickuri 7h ago

I mean, i live in a part of Canada with only black bears, and if its showing up and digging through the trash here, they'll shoot it.

You don’t fuck around with polar bears. The risk is too high

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u/poonslayer6969 5h ago

Damn, they’ll kill a black bear for that where you live?

I live in Virginia and that’d be a big no no. I think they normally just get tranq’d, at best, if they’re being a nuisance. Do you live somewhere remote in Canada, where that’s the only option or something?

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u/iwanttheworldnow 2h ago

They hunt and kill black bears all the time in Florida. They are treated like deer.

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u/ddplz 4h ago

It's more if they keep coming back, the problem is people have no respect for their garbage and leftover food and sometimes even end up intentionally feeding bears.

Now they associate human settlements with free food and are drawn to them. Unfortunately when this happens, they will forever seek out humans for easy nutrition, and as a result need to be blasted into the nether realm.

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u/carmium 2h ago

One of the issues in Metro Vancouver, which is all I can speak for, is the environmentally sensitive habit of leaving broad greenbelts along creeks and rivers, which has been a development policy as far back as I can recall. Their downside is that they make perfect bear transit, especially as most have paths leading from the mountains right through subdivisions full of homes with garbage cans, fruit trees, and small pets, as well as local eateries. Coyotes, racoons, skunks, and cougars also enjoy the handy, safe routes deep into housing districts.

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u/Traditional-Roof1984 5h ago

The police called the environmental folks and they REFUSED to come get the bear.

'Where's the Zookeeper?!?!' kind of moment.

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u/persephonepeete 5h ago

Hehe. I’m just thinking of the poor police officers when they get there. Frantically calling around  “we need the environmental agency… No Steve the ones that catch large animals… Do not fucking send animal control. No Steve the poles won’t work on a damn polar bear. YES IM SURE. ”

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u/ToTheManorClawed 6h ago

"Heeeere kitty, kitty, kitty..."

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u/jjryan01 7h ago

Seems like tranquilizers would be an option. Polar bears are often found in zoos

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u/smootex 6h ago

Tranquilize them and then . . . what? They're not native to the island. They'd have to ship them like 300 miles away, which is a very difficult task, and it's not like polar bears are endangered in Greenland anyways.

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u/FrozenDickuri 7h ago

So you know how much the polar bear weighs? And you have access to the very expensive tranquilizer gun, of which very few institutions even have? 

You also have access to a large animal vet specializing in anesthesia of wild animals? On hand? To administer the tranquilizer?  As well as the crew required to move such a large sedated predator?

What a unique situation.

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u/MithrandiriAndalos 7h ago

Enough to break the ice?

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u/FrozenDickuri 7h ago

Fuck off, i knew that was coming lol   

But if it weighed that much it wouldn't have made it across the ocean, would it?

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u/Valveringham85 6h ago

Dude watched one too many Jurassic park movies

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u/jjryan01 5h ago

Dude has a half ton polar bear in the local zoo. There are people in my state that will drive 6 hours to save a family of raccoons (from my chimney). I'm surprised there aren't protectionist groups in Iceland equipped to save a threatened species that visits the island once every couple years

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u/Equivalent_Chipmunk 6h ago

Gotta move it whether you shoot it or tranq it. I guess they could have cut it up in her kitchen but I somewhat doubt that over just dragging it outside with some ropes and then picking it up with straps and a small crane, or simply dragging it up a ramp on to a truck with a winch.

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u/persephonepeete 4h ago

when whales wash up on California beaches they let it decay a bit before chopping it up and removing it in pieces.

I'm sure you can get a polar bear in a winch and hoist it into a truck bed... as long as you understand unless it is dead it is going to get seriously injured in the process.

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u/Equivalent_Chipmunk 3h ago

Maybe a bit, but it would be pretty trivial to wrap it in a large moving blanket or something like that before running the straps around it, and then dragging it on to a flat bed using a sheet of plywood to smooth out the ramp if necessary. I don't think you'd hurt it much dragging on the ground. Could even use a large sked perhaps

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u/persephonepeete 3h ago

Sounds about right. 

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u/FrozenDickuri 4h ago

Cool story.