Svalbard Polar Bear - RIP

[Rhodes]

I appreciate that sadly seventeen year old Eton schoolboy Horatio Chapple was killed last week when the 7 foot, 40 stone bear attacked an expedition party in their tent on the remote Svalbard glacier near to the Arctic Circle however award winning tv wildlife film maker John Downer has described the way the naive students had set up their makeshift camp as 'highly perilious' and 'terrifying' to think of them staying in a tent out there. Downer went on to say that 'Polar Bears are the most dangerous predator particularly in the summer months when the sheet ice has melted and the seals have disappeared, the bears left on Svalbard become scavengers, forced to eat Kelp, birds eggs and edible flotsam including the occasional beached whale carcass. Comments on Facebook include 'RIP Snowey', 'If you go camping with Polar Bears then you shouldn't be shocked when they try to eat you', 'Another instance of a wild animal being murdered because humans who had no business being there invaded its territory and all it was doing was trying to survive', and lastly, 'Very sad for the boy but they shouldn't have been there in the first place'. I think that says it all really and hopefully lessons have been learned.

[missunderstood]

I appreciate that sadly seventeen year old Eton schoolboy Horatio Chapple was killed last week when the 7 foot, 40 stone bear attacked an expedition party in their tent on the remote Svalbard glacier near to the Arctic Circle however award winning tv wildlife film maker John Downer has described the way the naive students had set up their makeshift camp as 'highly perilious' and 'terrifying' to think of them staying in a tent out there. Downer went on to say that 'Polar Bears are the most dangerous predator particularly in the summer months when the sheet ice has melted and the seals have disappeared, the bears left on Svalbard become scavengers, forced to eat Kelp, birds eggs and edible flotsam including the occasional beached whale carcass. Comments on Facebook include 'RIP Snowey', 'If you go camping with Polar Bears then you shouldn't be shocked when they try to eat you', 'Another instance of a wild animal being murdered because humans who had no business being there invaded its territory and all it was doing was trying to survive', and lastly, 'Very sad for the boy but they shouldn't have been there in the first place'. I think that says it all really and hopefully lessons have been learned.

 

 

Its all very sad, but everything you say is true.

[Loose]

People forget that theres no adventure without risk.

[Rhodes]

Loosely - Surely you're not agreeing with me, that's a first!

[Eastside Urchin]

Indeed,stick a fckng tent up near a polar bear and you are automaticaly food for its thoughts.

 

Feel sorry for the kid and his family but to be honest,whoever organised the trip should be shot and the kids parents should be ashamed of themselves for letting the kids go.Another year older and he would be able to make the decision for himself and it would be on his head but at 17,the parents should be held accountable.

 

If a kid died walking in the bush after being attacked by lions and came from a council estate in manchester,the parents would probably be looked at by social services.

 

 

 

 

[Big J R]

I'm with everyone above on this.

 

Polar Bears quite happily see man as prey. Go camping in their domain and you're asking for trouble.

 

Trip wires failed to warn of attack - Rifle jammed. Q.E.D.

 

Still absolutely no reason to shoot the bear that was just doing what comes naturally. Man interferring with nature - AGAIN !!!

[Eastside Urchin]

Loosely - Surely you're not agreeing with me, that's a first!

 

 

 

Rhodes,you say that every time he agrees with you,not often but defiantly not the first time.

[Rhodes]

I see that Facebook tributes to the ‘killer’ bear have been condemned as ‘offensive’ to the victim’s family, one page entitled ‘RIP Svalbard Polar Bear Who Got Shot Dead For Killing Horatio Chapple’ was surprisingly taken down following a complaint with one protestor stating that ‘this is offensive and honestly disgusting, you need to consider how this is going to make friends and family of Horatio feel’:

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2023421/Norway-polar-bear-attack-Mike-Reids-heroic-attempts-save-Horatio-Chapple.html