WILDLIFE OFFICERS DEFEND KILLING OF WAYWARD POLAR BEAR

Newfoundland and Labrador wildlife officers are defending their decision to kill a polar bear, but a witness says the situation was poorly managed. The bear was spotted Saturday near Catalina, N.L., and conservation officers say they tried to capture it alive but turned to live ammunition because it ventured too close to bystanders. “Only in instances of immediate public safety risk, will conservation officers decide the action of animal dispatch must be taken,” the Department of Fisheries and Land Resources said in a statement Monday. It blamed weather that prevented using a helicopter to tranquilize the bear, and an inability to move the bear away from bystanders. The risk was deemed immediate after the officers failed to scare the bear into their trap with rubber bullets and it “rapidly moved closer to houses and bystanders.” Brandon Collins, who said he witnessed the scene, said on Facebook “The officers should have stopped firing but they didn’t, they kept firing and it just pissed the bear off because he had nowhere to go,” he wrote.