British man takes out £1m insurance on German bear

Posted : 24-05-2006

A German bear that has been wreaking havoc in a small Bavarian resort town has had a £1 million insurance policy taken out on it by a British man.

The managing director of britishinsurance.com, Simon Burgess, heard about German authorities' attempts to find and kill the bear, and has negotiated an insurance of £1 million against any damage the bear may do in its lifetime.

Since crossing the border from Austria last week, the brown bear, thought to way about 100kg, has gone on an orgy of destruction, killing seven sheep and raiding a hen coop.

Mr Burgess told Sky News: "It is a beautiful creature, for a country to kill its national symbol is rather astonishing.

"I want to shame the authorities into reversing their order to kill it."

The insurance policy is designed to compensate any farmers who lose livestock to the bear.

It is thought that the bear, dubbed JJ2 by authorities, is the first to be seen in Germany for the last 170 years, and crossed the Austrian border in search of a mate.

The brown bear has been declining rapidly in Europe, and it is believed that there are only 30 left in Austria.


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