First Ever Wild Grizzly/Polar Hybrid Shot

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Saturday May 13, 2006 @03:48PM from the no-one-tell-stephen-colbert dept.

tavilach writes "Jim Martell has a license to hunt polar bears, but when his latest kill had "white fur [that] was spotted brown and it had the long claws and slightly humped back of a grizzly," officials seized the body in order to conduct DNA tests. These tests confirm that the dead bear had a polar bear mother and grizzly father, the first documented grizzly-polar hybrid in the wild. This was lucky for Jim, who was facing a fine and jail time for possibly killing a grizzly. Scientists who would have liked to study the bear are not so lucky."

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Re:Pathetic that this animal was shot... by Hannah+E.+Davis · 2006-05-13 16:45 · Score: 4, Informative

As I understand it, polar bears are huntable in the arctic at least in part because they eat people. They're extremely dangerous animals -- apparently, they're known for showing no fear around humans and having no qualms about eating human flesh, so there are parts of Canada where you actually do have to go around armed in case one comes by looking for dinner.

I'm still not a big fan of shooting them, but I can see why it might be allowed, especially near human settlements.