The bear of Vasa

If you are a sensitive person you better shouldn't read this post.
I'm going to blog about the bear that was killed in Vasa (the town we are from in Finland) a couple of weeks ago.
I felt ill when I read about it and still do if I just think about it.
It's a story about a bear that somehow wandered it's way close to the town and was killed, but it's also about a government that has lost all ethic and morale in their strive of earning some money.

Once the bear was dead the `greedy bell´ started ringing in someones head and they decided they are going to earn money out of this for the Ministry of Land and Forest.
They made up an auction and brought the bear for a cutting-up.
The fur was taken away and the cranium of the head was cut separately from the body.
They took the penis of the bear and cut it up and took out the supporting bone that is inside.
This because they thought they can make money out of it, selling it as a trophy!
Have you ever heard about anything worse?

About 60 people showed up at the rare auction.
The man who killed the bear, after a hunting of three hours, got the fur for 1600Euros and he payed 50Euros for the cranium of the head.
Many people in the area are now upset when he had to pay to get them. They think he would have got them for free. I agree. He waisted both energy and time and gunpowder to get the bear killed, even if some maybe see it as one opportunity in a lifetime to get to kill a bear in Finland.

They got 52 kg of bear meat and a local lawyer bought it finally for 2000Euros. He said it will probably be gone in a year and thinks the bear meat is delicacy.
I think it was right by the government to sell out the meat to the person who had given the highest bid.

A hunter payed 120Euros for the penis bone which he is going to hang on the wall in his home among birds and other hunting trophies.
They say it's a high status in some inner circles if you can show up a huge collection of penis bones - they can be from dogs, raccoons and beavers- and some hunters use them as drink sticks.

Sorry if I make you feeling ill but this is Finland in real! Some of the men(not all!) are really tough and rough, and like it seams, they still live in the stage that was at the time when God created the earth.

Many people up there, are now angry about the way this matter has been dealt with by the government.
The Ministry of Land and Forest has got a total of + 3770Euros extra on their bank account because of the bear business.
I wonder if they are going to have a party?

You are normally not allowed to kill bears in our country but this one was on it's way into the town and then there are other rules, like it seams.
Before we moved down to Tenerife there was a bear walking around in the villages and I was very afraid it would be around the corner when I went out from our home, but then there was no thoughts about killing it. We had to live with the fear. And some years earlier there was a man killed by a bear in Finland when he was out jogging in the morning and ended up in between a mummy bear and it's baby.

The photo above was taken by Henrik Finskas and has won the price for the best photo of the month in the newspaper. Congratulations!
(Source of the photo: Vasabladet.fi.)