Hungry polar bear shot dead

With dawn yet to break over Newfoundland’s Northern Peninsula, Damien Reardon woke to the sound of commotion coming from his kitchen.

Fearing an intruder, Reardon, 29, ventured downstairs to the main floor of the home he shares with seven family members in Goose Cove, about 15 minutes south of St. Anthony.

In the 4 a.m. darkness Reardon heard a loud ruckus. Then, he flipped the light switch.

“A polar bear was halfway in through the kitchen door,” he told the Star. “It was pretty scary.”

So, with a 350-pound polar bear trying to squeeze into his kitchen, Reardon did what any protective homeowner might do: He forced the invader out of his house.

Reardon, who was with his father, Louis, started banging the kitchen table to scare off the bear. When that tactic failed, Louis grabbed the hunting rifle he reserves for bird hunting and fired two bullets over the bear’s head and out the open door.

“It scared him and luckily he backed off,” Reardon said, who lives with seven family members, including his three children.

The Reardon residence was one of four Goose Cove homes the 3-yearold polar bear paid visits to early Thursday morning, before it was shot dead by a provincial Department of Natural Resources conservation officer around 8 a.m.

The department said it initially requested a helicopter to tranquilize the bear from above, but those plans were foiled by poor flying conditions.