BBC filmmaker faces fine for disturbing bears

Melting-ice-polar-bear01Australian TV personality Jason Roberts the wildlife expert behind the popular BBC series The Frozen Planet, could be fined NOK 50000 (EUR 6640) for allegedly bothering polar bears in Svalbard.

Roberts, who has filmed polar bears for about 22 years now, was working on the BBC’s production of The Polar Bear Family & Me when his presenter Gordon Buchanan sat in a Perspex box close to a den, a move the authorities objected to.

Mr Roberts has since refused to pay the fine saying the cage has caused the animals no harm. Speaking on the trouble he might have caused the animals, he told Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, “I love the bears and have never bothered, disturbed or injured them,” adding that the law’s demands for protective measures were the reason why they used the cage in the first place.

Roberts has also the field producer and safety advisor for this show while Gordon Buchanan has been the anchor.

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