Iranian authorities on Monday ordered the arrest of the people who tortured and killed a brown bear in the northwestern Ardabil province, news agency IRNA reported Monday.
IRNA said that prosecutor Javad Parvaneh condemned the “horrible” act that upset the population and ordered an investigation and the arrest of suspects who killed the bear.
Villagers chased the animal and tortured him. A picture published by the news agency shows the bear tied by his neck to a digging machine while the heavy wheels of a tractor pinned on his back legs, breaking his legs, pelvis and damaging his spine.
Environmental officers took the bear to a wildlife clinic, where he died from his injuries.
Brown bears, found mainly in forests in northern and western Iran, face multiple threats in Iran, including droughts and conflicts with farmers who don’t want bears to eat their crops and animals.
Leopard shot dead
Also on Sunday, a leopard was shot dead in the north of Iran after injuring a police officer in the city of Ghaemshahr. Many wild animals, including wolves and foxes, have been seen in urban areas in Iran in recent weeks, according to Hamshahri, the daily newspaper of Tehran’s municipality.
In #Iran, most of animal abuses take place in villages. As people are more illiterate & religious, they abuse animals more. Sadly, a Bear & a Leopard were killed today. The bear was hanged to death by farmers near Ardebil while the Leopard was killed by Police in Qaem-Shahr. https://t.co/iAT7hqlOXn pic.twitter.com/IBLtsWgiGg
— Babak Taghvaee – Μπάπακ Τακβαίε – بابک تقوایی (@BabakTaghvaee) April 24, 2022
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