Iranian villagers who beat brown bear to death arrested

Iranian authorities on Monday ordered the arrest of suspects who beat to death a brown bear in a northern village, state news agency IRNA reported Monday.

Denouncing a "horrible" act that upset the population, Javad Parvaneh, prosecutor in the village of Namin, ordered an investigation and the arrest of suspects who killed the endangered animal, IRNA said.

The agency said the incident took place on Sunday in the northwestern Ardabil province.

"The villagers restrained the animal" and they "resorted to inappropriate methods and behaviours by chasing, beating and injuring it", IRNA 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, IRNA reported.

A picture published by the news agency shows the bear tied by its neck to a digging machine, while the heavy wheels of a farm tractor appear to have been used to pin the animal's back legs to the ground.

Brown bears, found mainly in forests in northern and western Iran, are classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of species at risk.

Environmental protection officers later arrived, taking the bear to a wildlife clinic, where it "succumbed to its injuries", according to IRNA.

Bears face multiple threats in Iran, including conflict with farmers who seek to defend their crops and livestock.

Further pressure has been generated by repeated droughts in recent years.

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.