In Slovakia, several bear attacks are worrying the population. Farmers are demanding that the hunt for the protected animals be opened. However, the government is divided on how to proceed with the bears.
The injured jogger from Liptovský Hrádok in central Slovakia just managed to drag himself to a street where he was spotted by a bus driver. He was taken to the hospital with bite wounds, the state nature conservation agency said. The region called “Big Fatra”, where the drama took place, is also popular with tourists because of its mountainous and forested landscape. At the foot of this mountain range, a task force from the authority also shot a bear that had become suspicious. She had lost her natural shyness – and was said to be approaching the town hall, a bus stop and the kindergarten. Maybe a so-called container bear.
“These are bears that have become acquainted with human food. Such bears can also attack people. Or they are shot down,” says environmentalist and documentary filmmaker Erik Baláž. “But people made the mistakes because they started feeding bears or allowed the bears to get to their waste.” They are responsible for the fact that the bears get used to human food. “And they are also responsible for her death.”
Baláž explains that bears and humans always avoid each other. Instead of talking about problem bears, he sees problem people at work: “The bear is basically a very shy animal. Many people have probably met a bear before and didn’t even notice it.” Because a bear usually runs away when he notices a human, even before the human would even recognize him.
Attack on farmer causes protest
However, this knowledge did not help the jogger. Not even a man who took out a pistol on Friday when a bear attacked him in Sučany, in the north of the country. He fired ten rounds at the animal before it died. Now the authorities are looking for the bear’s cubs. Authorities are also investigating another case in which a forest worker shot a bear.
This scares the people in the region. If the representatives of Slovak farmers have their way, the hunt for brown bears should start as soon as possible. They argue that the bears have multiplied so much that there are simply too many, says Emil Macho, head of the Slovakian Chamber of Agriculture. “Not a day goes by without reports of bears being killed or bear attacks. Not a day goes by that we don’t see new photos of bear encounters on social media.”
The specific reason for the peasant protest is an attack on a young farmer in the village of Háj near Turčianske Teplice, also in central Slovakia. The bear suddenly appeared in front of him while he was leading horses out to pasture, says 20-year-old Christian Sedlačko: “He turned around, stood on his hind legs, jumped on me, bit me and with me injured the claws.”
Environment Minister rules out mass hunting
The Slovakian government is divided on how to proceed with the bears. The Ministry of Agriculture of the incumbent expert government speaks of too many bears, Environment Minister Milan Chrenko rejects this. The number of approximately 1,300 bears in the country has hardly changed in recent years. Also, you can’t just hunt them down. “More shootings or a mass hunt, as has been the case in the past, are not possible because of national and European laws,” says Chrenko.
Because brown bears and their habitats are particularly worthy of protection. Closable rubbish bins are now supposed to help so as not to lure the animals into settlements. In addition, the Ministry of Environment and local authorities want to strengthen their special bear service, cooperation on sightings.