Order to kill mother bear and cubs put on hold in Norway

The hunt for a brown bear that bit a man on the elbow has been put on hold, the Norwegian Environment Agency has announced, in a case that angered animal rights campaigners after officials shot the wrong bear.

- Ajit Niranjan

The agency said yesterday it did not plan to act on the order it had issued in late June to kill female bear who had bitten a man's arm in Jarfjord, near the Russian border, leaving him needing stitches.

The original decision caused outrage after nature inspectors who were tracking her lost the trail and killed a male bear by mistake.

On Tuesday, Oslo district court quashed a temporary injunction that animal rights groups had obtained to save the bear and her two cubs, who were also to be killed on the grounds they would starve without her.

However, the environment agency said it would not cull the bears after all, because they had moved south.