Germans Shoot Wild Bear (Somewhat Amusing)

[liberalpragmatist]

This is somewhat amusing. Not that the bear was killed - that's sad. Rather, it's the Germans' almost Stephen-Colbert-style paranoia. I'm guessing the Germans haven't seen bears around too recently?

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Hunters kill 1st German wild bear in 170 years
Official: ‘Rabbits are also deserving of sympathy’; animal lovers decry killing

Updated: 3:30 p.m. CT June 26, 2006

SCHLIERSEE, Germany - Bruno, the brown bear who sauntered into Germany through the Italian Alps and eluded pursuers in a month-long mountain odyssey, was shot and killed Monday, to the dismay of many animal lovers.

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The 2-year-old bear had dined on sheep, killed rabbits and broken into beehives.

‘No other solution’
Officials said it was only a matter of time before the 220-pound Bruno attacked a human.

"There was no other solution," Anton Steixner, an official from the Austrian state of Tyrol, told reporters.

"Even animal rights activists should understand that this bear killed sheep and tore into rabbits purely for pleasure," Steixner said. "Rabbits are also deserving of sympathy."

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Franz Maget, a top member of the opposition Social Democrats in Bavaria, urged that Schnappauf resign.

"Bear-killer Schnappauf has failed as environment minister and should hang up his hat," Maget said. "The permission to shoot him was a mistake and possibly violated the law."

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13560128/from/RS.3/