Slovakia backs plan to shoot 350 bears after man killed in assault

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<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/93b3/live/01a8a590-0ff1-11f0-8071-effa4d8e1d75.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/93b3/live/01a8a590-0ff1-11f0-8071-effa4d8e1d75.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/93b3/live/01a8a590-0ff1-11f0-8071-effa4d8e1d75.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/93b3/live/01a8a590-0ff1-11f0-8071-effa4d8e1d75.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/93b3/live/01a8a590-0ff1-11f0-8071-effa4d8e1d75.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/93b3/live/01a8a590-0ff1-11f0-8071-effa4d8e1d75.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/93b3/live/01a8a590-0ff1-11f0-8071-effa4d8e1d75.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/93b3/live/01a8a590-0ff1-11f0-8071-effa4d8e1d75.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images File image of a brown bear walking in a field" class="sc-a34861b-0 efFcac"/> Getty Photos A state of emergency permitting bears to be shot has been prolonged throughout a lot of Slovakia (file pic)

The Slovak cupboard has permitted a plan to shoot round 1 / 4 of the nation's brown bears, after a person was mauled to demise whereas strolling in a forest in Central Slovakia.

Prime Minister Robert Fico's populist-nationalist authorities introduced after a cupboard assembly that 350 out of an estimated inhabitants of 1,300 brown bears can be culled, citing the hazard to people after a spate of assaults.

"We won't stay in a rustic the place persons are afraid to enter the woods," the prime minister informed reporters afterwards.

A particular state of emergency permitting bears to be shot has now been widened to 55 of Slovakia's 79 districts, an space that now covers many of the nation.

The federal government in Bratislava has already loosened authorized protections permitting bears to be killed in the event that they stray too near human habitation. Some 93 had been shot by the top of 2024.

The plans to shoot much more have been condemned by conservationists, who mentioned the choice was in violation of worldwide obligations and may very well be unlawful.

"It is absurd," mentioned Michal Wiezek, an ecologist and MEP for opposition get together Progressive Slovakia.

"The Atmosphere Ministry failed desperately to restrict the variety of bear assaults by the unprecedented culling of this protected species," he informed the BBC.

"To cowl up their failure, the federal government has determined to cull much more bears," he continued.

Wiezek argued that 1000's of encounters a yr handed with out incident, and he hoped the European Fee would intervene.

Slovak police confirmed on Wednesday {that a} man discovered useless in forest close to the city of Detva in Central Slovakia on Sunday evening was killed by a bear. His wounds have been in line with an assault.

The 59-year-old man had been reported lacking on Saturday after failing to return from a stroll within the woods.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/a937/live/84d70a00-0fe8-11f0-8db5-3f4abea6b85e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/a937/live/84d70a00-0fe8-11f0-8db5-3f4abea6b85e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a937/live/84d70a00-0fe8-11f0-8db5-3f4abea6b85e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/a937/live/84d70a00-0fe8-11f0-8db5-3f4abea6b85e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/a937/live/84d70a00-0fe8-11f0-8db5-3f4abea6b85e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/a937/live/84d70a00-0fe8-11f0-8db5-3f4abea6b85e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/a937/live/84d70a00-0fe8-11f0-8db5-3f4abea6b85e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/a937/live/84d70a00-0fe8-11f0-8db5-3f4abea6b85e.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Mountain Rescue Pol'ana A picture of a mountain rescue team in a wooded area of central Slovakia" class="sc-a34861b-0 efFcac"/> Mountain Rescue Pol'ana The person's physique was discovered by mountain rescue groups in woods close to Detva

He was discovered with what authorities described as "devastating accidents to the pinnacle". Proof of a bear's den was discovered close by, an area NGO informed Slovak newspaper Novy Cas.

Bears have turn out to be a political problem in Slovakia after a rising variety of encounters, together with deadly assaults.

In March 2024, a 31-year-old Belarusian girl fell right into a ravine and died whereas being chased by a bear in northern Slovakia.

A number of weeks later a big brown bear was captured on video working via the centre of the close by city of Liptovsky Mikolas in broad daylight, bounding previous automobiles and lunging at folks on the pavement.

The authorities later claimed to have hunted down and killed the animal, though conservationists mentioned later there was clear proof they'd shot a unique bear.

Atmosphere Minister Tomas Taraba mentioned on Wednesday there have been greater than 1,300 bears in Slovakia, and that 800 was a "enough quantity", because the inhabitants was rising.

Nonetheless, specialists say the inhabitants stays kind of secure at round 1,270 animals.

Bears are widespread throughout the Carpathian mountain vary, which stretches in an arc from Romania via western Ukraine and on to Slovakia and Poland.