Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/12/05/some-idiot-painted-graffiti-on.html
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Well, hopefully the polar bear then got some badly needed calories by eating said pranksters. Polar bears are one of the few animals that will actively hunt humans.
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There is a bunch of stuff wrong with this story. In the far north of Canada they used to “serial number” polar bears to make it easier to track them from a distance (the old radio collars didn’t work on male bears) and they wanted to reduce the number of times they tranq darted bears. As far as I’m aware the practice changed due to complaints from tourism, which affected funding, and as tech progressed, it became less needed. Polar bears don’t rely on their camouflage all that much, seals popping out of the ice are looking, but they are not seeing the sides or back of the bear. And in general they are not “sneaking up” on a lot of their prey, its more “who can outrun a walrus?”
As for pranksters, again, not a lot lining up with that story. Although I’ve heard some stories about Russian frats, so maybe a doctoral student having some fun?
It just smells like someone got a funny photo and a functionary was trying to sound like they knew what was going on.
As for polar bears hunting humans, yeah, that’s a new thing. Adapt, improvise and overcome. We are not the most calorie dense food, but we sure don’t fight back much.
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You do have a point. Few things are as likely to generate online outrage as perceived injustice to animals. Maybe The Internet Research Agency just needed some bait so that they could map networks of active social media users?
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It’s not known why the animal was painted.
I want to know HOW it was painted. Seriously, a bear is just going to lie there and let you paint it?
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Kavry said he was concerned about the branded bear’s ability to survive in the wild: “Why! Now he won’t be able to hunt unnoticed.”
That’s a little far from "and now the animal likely won’t survive "
But hey, we got the clicks! and comments!
T R A F F I C
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Yes.
If it is eating your friend.
The trick is getting the guy without the spray can eaten.
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But… but…
I need to know if it’s a tier V T-34
or a tier VI T-34-85
or a tier VI Premium T-34-85M
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Good luck getting all that on a bear in a legible font size!
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Might =/= Likely
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As I’ve seen reported elsewhere (sorry; forgotten where) you’ve identified a key reason why it’s likely the bear was marked legitimately, by scientists with access to tranquilisers.
Er, professionally, not just recreationally.
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Or for some Russian scientists:
“Eh, little from column A, little from column B.”
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Bonus points for correct kerning.
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While I deplore the idea of defacing a living animal (if that’s really what happened), it has to be said that tagging an 800lb carnivore is a lot ballsier than simply writing your idiot scribble over and over again on any flat surface (which is what the taggers do where I live). Whoever pulled that off would be a short-lived legend in their community.
Sorry to hear you’re stuck living in a community where balls are considered so important.
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What an amazing feat of bravery indeed. May this person go down as a god among humans. /s
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You should see the size of their cotillions!
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Preferably posthumously.
