Genetic test in Austria
Collision with train: Brown bear sighted in Bavaria is dead
A brown bear in the Müritz bear sanctuary. After the sighting of a brown bear in the Allgäu, experts do not assume that the bear really lives in Bavaria (symbol image).
© Philipp Brandstädter / DPA
The brown bear, which was sighted in various places in Bavaria in the spring, is dead. A genetic test showed agreement with an animal that had been run over in Austria.
The brown bear, which appeared in various places in south-east Bavaria in the spring, is dead. As the Bavarian State Office for the Environment announced on Monday in Augsburg, genetic tests showed that it was the same animal that was found in Salzburg on May 23 Austria was hit by a train and killed. Further current indications of brown bears in Bavaria are therefore not available at the moment.
According to the announcement, an exchange of samples between the Natural History Museum in Vienna and the German Senckenberg Institute brought clarity. The male bear had in April and May Bayern torn several sheep. Traces of the animal had also been found in various places. Shortly before his death, the bear was photographed in the Bavarian district of Oberallgäu. The animal had usually kept away from people.
Memories of “problem bear” Bruno
According to the state office, young males sometimes roam very far in search of a female. The nearest brown bear population is around 120 kilometers from Bavaria in Trentino, Italy. Brown bears are among the largest land predators in the world – in the bear family, only the polar bear is larger. Male brown bears can weigh more than 550 kilograms, while females are significantly smaller and lighter at up to 250 kilograms.
The stately bears were widespread throughout Europe up until the Middle Ages. Nowadays, however, it is a rarity when a brown bear roams Germany. When the bear “Bruno” immigrated to Bavaria in 2006 and killed sheep there, he was shot. The main reason for the shooting back then was that “Bruno” was not afraid of people and settlements and was considered dangerous.