Man Arrested After Endangered Brown Bear Beaten To Death, Restrained With Tractor

A man in Iran has been arrested for beating an endangered brown bear to death after brutally restraining it with a tractor.

The horrific incident happened at the village of Namin in the northwestern Ardabil province of Iran on Sunday after a group of villagers chased the bear that strayed into the area.

A photo taken from the scene showed the brown bear with its neck tied to the tractor while the animal's hind legs were pinned on the ground with the traction vehicle's wheel, BBC News reported.

"The villagers restrained the animal, [and] resorted to inappropriate methods and behaviors by chasing, beating and injuring it," Dawn reported, citing a local news outlet IRNA. The report also suggested that the villagers used "tools such as a tractor" to restrain the bear, causing "serious damage to the animal."

Although environmental protection officers rescued the bear from the site and took it to a wildlife clinic, the animal succumbed to the grievous injuries it sustained to its legs, pelvis and spine.

Meanwhile, it is unclear what provoked the villagers to chase the animal. Javad Parvaneh, the prosecutor in the village of Namin, who denounced the "horrible" assault said the incident had upset the local population and ordered an investigation into the brutal killing of the endangered animal.

The head of the judiciary announced Monday that they have arrested an unidentified man who is considered the "culprit."

The brown bears are seen in northern and western regions of Iran, mainly in the Alborz and Zagros Mountains. They are categorized as endangered in Iran and comes under the Red List according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Although there are several reasons for the decreasing population in the country, the human-bear conflict remains the primary cause. There have been reports of increasing trafficking of luxury wildlife goods in Iran, especially bear skins which are sold illegally for up to $2,000 in their markets. Bears are also hunted by locals based on the false belief that the meat of the animal has medicinal value.