Why does an innocent rare animal be killed to "protect" some guilty creature of which there is already too many ?

Look at it from the bears point of view.
They have no freedom, are caged like prisoners through no fault of their own .............

Ah... humans presume so much...

What of the multi-million dollar lawsuit that should follow the unjust killing of the bear?

What do we know of the bear who was in captivity ? What was his/her crime? Was he/she suffering from a psychotic or other psychiatric disorder?

Why did that trespasser climb into the enclosure in the first place? The zoo had a duty of care for the bear, but this trespasser willfully bypassed the significant barrier.
Why can ther zoo do to further ensure the safety of this cruely kept beautiful animal from those dangerous and intelligent predators?

good on you helian.

1/the bear was acting in self defense

2/ An animal court would hear it. NOT a biased human court

3/ maybe it's cause included insanity ? In itself, it was not dangerous.

4/ anyone who enters an animals home HAs to take some responsibility for their own actions.
If a maniac sprints in front of cars on a freeway, the maniac has some responsibility.

5/ If humans cannot keep where they should be, they should be banned from zoos

6/ the stupid human should keep clear of animals such as this.
   I do not go teasing sharks in the water.

Point number 2 in Sprints post was not stupid Helian...like he said he is argueing for the bear, as am I.

The bear should never have been locked up in the first place. Who decides that its humane to cage and deprive any animal esp. large animals such as this.

If the situation had been reversed and a crazy/careless bear  wandered into the mans enclosure , would the bear then have the man killed because he made a mistake. ? I dont think so, its mans habit to kill first ask questions later.

Man is the most arrogant/ brutal inhabitant , who has scant regard for the life of any animal and in a lot of cases including his own.

RAJU the bear will never have to smoke cigarettes or dance on his hind legs under the hot sun again thanks to a multinational project to save an endangered species and end a cruel centuries-old tradition in India.

Raju was the last endangered sloth bear that had to work for a living, but who now can roam free at the Bannerghatta bear sanctuary on the outskirts of the southern city of Bangalore.

The bear's freedom is the outcome of lengthy efforts by animal rescue organisations and the Government that have taken the "dancing" bears off India's streets, where the animals were once as ubiquitous as snake charmers and their cobras.

"This is the very last bear that has been rescued from the roads of India, the actual last one and that is the end of the trade," Mary Hutton, Australia-based chairperson and founder of Free the Bears Fund, said.

Sloth bears are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, but they often entertained crowds by playing imaginary guitars, smoking cigarettes and dancing to the pounding of drums, providing an income for their handlers.

The Bannerghatta bear rescue centre is one of the four that have been set up by India-based Wildlife SOS, Free the Bears Fund from Australia, Britain's International Animal Rescue and One Voice Association from France.

The animal welfare groups devised a holistic approach that involved setting up sanctuaries for the freed bears and giving rehabilitation packages for their handlers so that they have an incentive to give up the animals.

Raje Saab, Raju's handler, said he was looking forward to starting a new job with the money he has been given.

"I am happy that it is going to stay here, it will be looked after properly and will get proper food and care," said Saab of his bear, adding that he would probably start a small business with the 50,000 rupees ($1069) given to him.

Once inside the sanctuary, the bears get special veterinary care to heal their multiple wounds and are quarantined for about 90 days before being allowed to socialise.

They are fed healthy food and gradually adjust to living in their large, forested enclosure, although they can never be returned to the wild because many lack basic survival techniques, as well as teeth and claws.

Activists say rampant poaching by an ancient tribe of gypsies known as Kalandars, who used the animals for their shows, had brought the sloth bears to the verge of extinction.

They say the Kalandars used to poach sloth bear cubs and then force them into submission by wrenching our their teeth and forcing a needle through their muzzle.

Wildlife SOS co-founder Geeta Seshmani said the Kalandars used to train the bears by putting them in a pan over a fire. They often castrated the bears to make them less aggressive.

As a result, many bears died, prompting more poaching, she said, and poaching still remains a pertinent threat.

"The most challenging part before us is to get the bears to be looked after at these sanctuaries," Seshmani said.

"Our anti-poaching unit works very hard and, because of the demand from South East Asia, there will always be demand for the bear cubs," she said, referring to countries were bear body parts are believed to have medicinal properties.
"There is still bear-bone soup and there is cold-blooded trade in countries outside India. And it will be our task to ensure that our cubs are not stolen from our forests and our wild bears are not stolen from our forests."