For the second time this summer, a polar bear was shot and killed by authorities in Iceland after riding an ice floe to shore. Polar bear sightings are rare in the island nation: the last time a polar bear visited was in 1993.

The first encounter took place in early June when a farmer in Skagafjördur spotted a polar bear padding down a mountain road and phoned the police. The bear was shot after authorities determined that no tranquilizers were available. Icelandic law states that if a polar bear threatens humans or cattle, it may be killed.

The second bear landed in the same area where the first bear came ashore. This one was discovered by a farmer's daughter, who found the polar bear feasting on eider duck eggs on the family farm.

This time, authorities announced that they would do everything possible to save the bear. Danish experts flew in with a cage and equipment. By that time, the bear was headed towards the sea and managed to reach the water before it could be tranquilized. At that point, authorities decided to euthanize the bear because they feared it would come ashore elsewhere, unseen, and pose a danger to the public.

"If we had lost the bear at sea, we never would have found it again," said Vagh Stefansson, police chief of Skagafjördur.

Meterologists believe that more polar bears could land in Iceland this summer because of drifting sea ice from Greenland. Authorities in Iceland are working on a plan to safely tranquilize and transport any future stray bears. Polar bear scientists say that more such sightings can be expected as sea ice patterns change in the Arctic.