Footage of a full-grown polar bear with “T-34” spray-painted in black
on its side has left wildlife experts in Russia scratching their heads
as to who or why branded the animal this way.
The T-34 was a legendary Soviet tank that played a crucial role in
Russia’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War 2, which has led some
experts to believe that the text spray-painted on the polar bear spotted
in Arctic Russia was nothing more than a poor military-themed joke. As
to who would stoop so low as to spray-paint a polar bear and thus affect
its ability to hunt for prey by virtually making it impossible for it
to blend with its environment, that’s even harder to answer. On the one
hand, it’s hard to believe that scientists would ever do such a thing,
and on the other, whoever did it must have tranquilized is beforehand.
“I don’t know the details of which region, district, or vicinity this
[footage] was taken,” Sergey Kavry, a member of the World Wildlife Fund
(WWF), said. “If it’s a military lettering theme… that is some kind of
perverse disrespect for history.”
Daria Buyanova, press officer for WWF Russia, told the BBC
that the footage of the spray-painted polar bear had caused quite a
shock within the organization and that the “T-34” inscription looked
“like a bad joke”.
According to scientist Anatoly Kochnev, the fact that the lettering
was so evenly spray-painted and the characters appeared to be of roughly
the same size is an indication that the bear must have been sedated or
at least unable to move while it was spray-painted.
Kochnev added that it could take weeks for the paint to wear off and
could cause serious feeding problems for the polar bear, which relies on
its white coat to blend with its surrounding and get close to prey.
Russian authorities are currently investigating the case, but so far
the only theory is that the bizarre stunt was carried out by locals in
Russia’s remote Novaya Zemlya region frustrated about the growing
presence of polar bears in several towns and villages.
