Police shoot circus bear dead

The 180-kilo bear, named Nena, escaped around 10:00 am Sunday morning along with her sister, Katja. As circus workers were rounding up Katja, Nena accidentally stumbled across two police officers and bit one on the calf. The officers then fired five or six shots at the animal, two of which were deadly.

Circus owner Daniel Renz expressed disbelief at the police officers’ actions, telling news agency DDP that Nena was old and hardly had any teeth. The police should have worked with the circus to safely recapture Nena, Renz said, rather than shoot her. It remains unclear how Nena and her sister managed to escape.