Polar Bears Shot in Reverse Goldilocks Tale Tue Jul 23, 7:52 AM ET OSLO, Norway (Reuters) - Three polar bears that broke into cottages on an Arctic island, smashed furniture and ate food have been shot dead by Norwegian police. "They were raiding holiday cabins and were a danger to people in homes nearby," Hege Selaas at the Norwegian governor's office on the island of Spitsbergen told Reuters Monday. The three -- a female with two young cubs -- were shot dead last week after at least 10 wooden cabins at Colesbukta were found broken into. Examination of the bears' stomachs showed they had feasted on soup packets, noodles and Russian-made dried foods, the local weekly Svalbardposten said. They had blood in their fur, apparently caused by scrambling in through smashed windows. Polar bears are normally a protected species on Spitsbergen, just 810 miles from the North Pole, except when they are a danger to humans.
couldn't they have put them to sleep and sent them to a zoo? At least the cubs should have been spared.
