Father’s pride in son who shot attacking polar bear

Michael Reid, who ended animal’s rampage, among four Britons still being treated for injuries in Norway hospital The father of the adventure group leader who shot a polar bear that had killed a schoolboy and also savaged him and three other Britons in Svalbard on Friday says he has been moved by the tributes paid to his son. Michael “Spike” Reid, 29, was one of two leaders of the expedition, which came under attack while camped near the Von Postbreen glacier, 25 miles from Longyearbyen, the capital of the Norwegian islands that make up the Svalbard archipelago. Horatio Chapple, 17, a sixth-former from Bishopstone, near Salisbury in Wiltshire, was killed. Four others were injured: Reid and fellow trip leader Andrew Ruck from Aberdeen, and two teenagers, Patrick Flinders from Jersey and Scott Bennell Smith from Cornwall. The group were on a British Schools Exploring Society (BSES) expedition to the Arctic. Reid, from Plymouth, suffered head and neck injuries and is reported to be in a serious but stable condition after being airlifted to a hospital in Tromsø on the Norwegian mainland. His family said they had been told by British embassy officials that Reid had shot the bear as it was attacking the expedition group. “We have been told that everyone is saying it was Michael who shot the bear and he was a hero,” Peter Reid, Michael’s father, told reporters. “It was very moving.” He added that the incident had come as a complete shock. “We were more worried last year, when Michael went to Afghanistan to climb. We have been shaken by the news, but we have a son alive and under very good medical care in Norway. There’s a family in Wiltshire who have lost their son. Their grief must be unimaginable.” Horatio’s family paid tribute to a “strong, fearless and kind” boy. His relatives said he had been “so excited about his plans to be a doctor” and praised his “amazing sense of humour and ability to laugh at himself. He was on the cusp of adulthood and had a clear vision of where his life was going.” Eton College paid tribute to a popular pupil whose death was “devastating”. An investigation into the accident is expected to focus on the failure of an alarm that was supposed to be activated if a bear approached the camp. According to Terry Flinders, the father of Patrick, a tripwire – used to scare off bears by triggering a flare – had failed to

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