Brown bear is killed after Iranian villagers crush its spine, legs and pelvis with a tractor

A brown bear in Iran was killed after local villagers crushed its spine, legs and pelvis with a tractor and tied it to a digger by its neck.

The villagers chased and beat the bear in their village near the town of Namin in northwestern Ardabil province before the animal succumbed to its injuries.

‘The villagers restrained the animal,’ state news agency IRNA said Sunday, adding they ‘resorted to inappropriate methods and behaviours by chasing, beating and injuring it.’

A photograph from the scene shows the bear tied around its neck to a digging machine, while the heavy wheels of a farm tractor appears to have been used to pin the animal’s back legs to the ground.

The villagers chased and beat the bear in their village near the town of Namin in northwestern Ardabil province before the animal succumbed to its injuries

‘The villagers restrained the animal,’ state news agency IRNA said Sunday, adding they ‘resorted to inappropriate methods and behaviours by chasing, beating and injuring it’

It said villagers used ‘tools such as a tractor’ to restrain the bear, causing ‘serious damage to the animal’ including breaking its leg, pelvis and damaging its spine.

Brown bears, found mainly in forests in northern and western Iran, are classified as endangered on the IUCN Red List of species at risk.

Bears are facing multiple threats in Iran as farmers, who are facing added pressure amid repeated droughts in recent years, defend their crops and livestock from the predators.

Environmental protection officers later arrived at the scene near Namin, taking the bear to a wildlife clinic, where it succumbed to its injuries.

Environmental protection officers later arrived at the scene near Namin, taking the bear to a wildlife clinic, where it succumbed to its injuries

Also on Sunday, a leopard was shot dead in the north of Iran after attacking and injuring a policeman 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.

The newspaper notably reported the sighting of a bear in the southern town of Marvdasht and a wolf attack on two elderly women in Khalkhal, northwestern Iran.

As well as brown bears, Iran is also home to Asiatic black bears, also known as moon bears, and classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.