Tourists who shot polar bear after attack in Norway fined £800
A group of tourists who shot a polar bear three times with a revolver after it attacked them in Norway have been fined £800.
The group, from the Czech Republic, were visiting Svalbard in March this year ahead of the rare total solar eclipse when a polar bear attacked their tent during the night.
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One of the group, Jakub Moravec, 37 (pictured above) said he awoke to find it "standing over him" in his tent.
According to the Daily Telegraph, at the time he told local radio NRK: "It went straight to my head. Luckily my colleague shot it."
Another member of the group, Zuzanna Hakova, said her mother shot the bear three times with a revolver before it fled.
She told NRK: "We woke to shouts of "Bear! Bear!" coming from the second tent.
"We had a rifle on the outside of each tent and we also had a revolver in our tent. The ones being attacked had no chance of getting their weapon, so my mother took her revolver and shot the bear three times."
The bear was later tracked and put down by local hunters.
After a four-month investigation, the leader of the tour group has now been fined 10,000 kroner (£800), as Svalbard's local environmental laws stipulate that people travelling in the archipelago take the necessary precautions against bear attacks.
According to thelocal.no, assistant Governor Jens Olav Sæter told local newspaper Svalbardposten: "They had not put in place the necessary safeguards. There was only one tripwire that was set too high and the bear went under it. Nor did they have a polar bear watch at the time."
He added that the deaths of many polar bears could be avoided if people took better safety precautions while visiting.
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