Efforts to rescue polar bears on Skagi yield no success in Iceland

Efforts to rescue polar bears on Skagi have yielded no success. According to a researcher at the Natural History Institute, neither Denmark nor Greenland is willing to accept polar bears that come to Iceland. Sixteen years have passed since extensive measures were taken to save a bear on Hraun, but those efforts were ultimately futile.

It has become increasingly difficult to rescue polar bears when there are no options for returning them to their natural habitats. Since the first rescue attempts began in 2008, attempts were made to avoid having to euthanize the animals. In June that year, two polar bears arrived on land at Skagafjörður, but the first bear was killed, leading to public outcry and additional rescue operations for the second.

This year’s National Day celebration was notably somber as news spread that the rescue attempts had again been unsuccessful. As bluntly articulated by a research biologist, when no one is willing to accept the bears, there are few options left but to put them down. This was the case with a young bear that was recently shot after efforts to relocate it to Greenland were met with a refusal.

The Chairman of the Icelandic Animal Rights Association expressed sorrow over the necessity of the bear’s euthanasia, highlighting the challenges of finding suitable homes for such displaced animals. In response to the ongoing issue, discussions about establishing processes that could prevent the need to kill these bears in the future are underway, provided that any nearby regions are willing to take them in.