Animals
Recent attacks by brown bears in Slovakia
A bear with its offspring in a valley in the Western Tatras in Slovakia (symbolic image). photo
© Erik Äevëìk/tasr/dpa
Bear alarm in Slovakia: A mushroom hunter and a hiker were attacked at the weekend – even a hunter was targeted.
Brown bears are in the weekend Slovakia attacked a mushroom hunter and a hiker. As the TASR news agency reported, citing the state nature conservation organization SOPSR, the hiker had to be treated as an outpatient in hospital.
Both incidents occurred in the Liptov region, located at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. In the same region, a bear injured five people in the residential area of a small town in mid-March. He was tracked down and shot dead more than a week later.
The hiker was walking with his wife and dog on a hiking trail near the village of Pribylina late on Sunday afternoon when the bear unexpectedly attacked and injured the man’s legs. After the incident, the couple fled to a nearby mountain hut and waited there for the “Brown Bear Response Team” belonging to the SOPSR to arrive.
Bear was shot
On Saturday, the mushroom picker came across a bear in the thick undergrowth in a mountain forest above the village of Stranavy, which then attacked him. The man shot the animal with a pistol and injured it. He himself remained unhurt. The “Brown Bear Response Team”, which was also alerted in this case, feared that the bear that had been shot could be dangerous to other people. Therefore, the team searched the forest area together with hunters. The bear also attacked one of the hunters. When he also fired a shot, the animal fled into the dense forest, where its trail was lost. Authorities issued a warning to avoid the forest area.
According to official counts, there are around 1,100 to 1,200 wild bears in Slovakia. Recently, calls have become louder to reduce their numbers through targeted shootings.