After a DNA analysis, it is clear that a bear is responsible for the death of two sheep in the Berchtesgadener Land two weeks ago – and not a wolf, as initially suspected.
But not a wolf: Two sheep that were found dead in the Berchtesgadener Land a good two weeks ago were torn by a bear. Genetic test results showed the DNA of a brown bear, said the Bavarian State Office for the Environment on Tuesday in Augsburg.
“In exchange with the Natural History Museum in Vienna, it is currently being clarified whether it is the bear that was run over by a train in Salzburger Land on May 23, 2023.” Current indications of a brown bear in Upper Bavaria are not available to the state office.
The two dead sheep were found on May 15th. Initially there was a suspicion of a wolf tear, which is why experts from the state office examined the site and the carcasses. In the end, the DNA sample brought certainty that the culprit was a bear. Earlier last week, a brown bear was hit and killed by a train on a railway line near Schwarzach in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Previously there were several bear sightings in the border area between Bavaria and Austria, most recently in Großgmain and Grödig.
At the beginning of May there were also several bear records in the neighboring Bavarian districts of Berchtesgadener Land and Traunstein. Livestock owners who suffer damage from a wolf or brown bear are comprehensively compensated by the Free State of Bavaria.