Hämeenlinna Police Call Off Bear Hunt
Image: YLE
Police in the southern city of Hämeenlinna called off a bear hunt on Thursday. According to the police, a bear that wandered into the city on Thursday morning was successfully guided back into the forest.
By afternoon, the bear was four kilometres away from human habitation.
The first sightings of the bear were at three in the morning, when the animal was seen in the centre of the city. Police filmed the bruin loping along a bike path around 3 a.m.
About 20 men with dogs joined the hunt for the bear. They had been instructed to shoot it. However, that later proved unnecessary.
According to the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, last year there were 165-175 bears in Finland, with about one quarter of them concentrated on the eastern province of Northern Karelia. However they are rarely seen in urban areas. YLE24, YLE TV News, Häme Local Radio