Due to the increased number of bear attacks in Romania Minister of Environment, Graţiela Gavrilescu – as part of the intervention quota – approved the shooting of 140 of them. In case this news makes you outrage, please continue reading so the whole article could help you to understand the full context. It is also worth to imagine yourself in the shoes of those locals – not tourists – who have to live their lives under constant threat from a swelling bear population.
The Minister of Environment also ordered the Environmental Police to fine those who illegally feed the wild bears, one of the main reasons why bears now roam even the cities:
“We have to protect the bears, but we also have to take care of the people. I’m disappointed when I see on the TV that we habituate the bears to ourselves…”
– Gavrilescu said according to Agerpres news agency. “…we throw out the trash and by doing this we also provide opportunity for them to come down from the mountains and enter certain towns.” Gavrilescu added that more bear shelters will be created from EU budgets, and that they will conduct a comprehensive census of the bear population, and start ear tagging them.
According to the Minister of Environment people can only be restrained from feeding the bears by fines.: “We fine those who feed the bears (…), and in this case the responsibility cannot be put (…), neither on the principal of the land, nor on the government. “ – she said.
More than 500 bear alerts in the last six months
In the first half-year gendarmes were alarmed more than 500 times countrywide, to protect people and their properties from the bears – reports the Gendarmerie. The statement also said that 81 people’s lives were threatened by the animals and that only last week gendarmes had to intervene 25 times due to the presence of bears. The wild animals cause danger most often in the following counties: Kovászna/Covasna, Hargita/Harghita, Brassó/Brasov, Szeben/Sibiu, Fehér/Alba, Prahova, Buzău and Dâmboviţa.
According to official reports, this year only in Kovászna county 120 sheep, 120 poultries, 12 cows, 3 goats, 6 rabbits, 2 cattle families and one horse have been killed by bears.
While the number of the bear population in 2013 was 1,170 in Kovászna county, their number increased to 1,600 by this year, but their habitat can only support about 400.
Title Image: “A fed bear is a DEAD BEAR” sign. (Photo: szekelyhon/Attila Pinti)
