Police have shot and killed a polar bear that came ashore in northwestern Iceland, the first sighting of a polar bear there since 2016. It might have hitched a ride from Greenland on a floating iceberg.

  • porous_grey_matter
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    18
    ·
    edit-2
    3 months ago

    What do you mean how would that work? Polar bear habitat is declared national park, inhabitants get assistance moving elsewhere. Extremely expensive? Yes. Complicated? Not really.

    I get that people aren’t gonna go for this, but I stand by the position that it would be the ethically correct thing, and we should be honest with ourselves that we are compromising on that.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      17
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      Did you even read the headline of this article? This is the first polar bear seen in Iceland since 2016. They swim.

      Where exactly is this habitat supposed to be? The entire coast?

    • Dasus@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      3 months ago

      There are still literally tens of thousands of polar bears.

      As a global population for a species, that’s low.

      But as something that would mean relocating entire towns full of people — when towns are usually doing something important production wise and can’t just be moved willy nilly — that’s a whole lot.

      “Move an entire town”

      Then half a year later when the bear moves to another town, do it again. And again. And again.

      Seriously? Do you know the size of the town compared to the national population in Iceland?

      That’s just a logistical nightmare which wouldn’t even accomplish any of the virtues you’re signaling so hard.

      • Maggoty@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        3 months ago

        The polar bears aren’t following the people. It can absolutely hunt (and would prefer) a coastline.

          • Maggoty@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            6
            ·
            3 months ago

            And? You think it’s just going to keep going to the next town like some kind of horror movie monster?

            • Dasus@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              3 months ago

              Would it be possible or perhaps even likely for the bear to roam a few dozen kilometers to the next town?

              https://www.wwf.org.uk/learn/wildlife/polar-bears

              Polar bears range across the Arctic Ocean, in parts of Canada, Alaska, Russia, Greenland and Norway (Svalbard). They can walk on ice or swim long distances to find food or breed – sometimes roaming across vast areas up to 600,000 sq km.

              https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland

              The main island covers 101,826 km2 (39,315 sq mi), but the entire country is 103,000 km2

              What do you think?

              • Maggoty@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                arrow-down
                3
                ·
                3 months ago

                Sure but you were talking like they were going to follow the humans around the island eating them one by one.

                • Dasus@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  4
                  ·
                  3 months ago

                  And you’re talking as if they’re gonna have the territory of a housecat.