Romania’s parliament has authorized the culling of virtually 500 bears this yr in an effort to manage the “overpopulation” of the protected species after a lethal assault on a hiker sparked nationwide outcry.
The nation is residence to eight,000 brown bears, in response to the surroundings ministry, Europe’s largest brown bear inhabitants outdoors Russia.
Bears have killed 26 individuals and severely injured 274 others over the previous 20 years in Romania, the ministry mentioned this yr.
After a younger hiker was mauled to dying on a well-liked path in Romania’s Carpathian mountains final week, the prime minister, Marcel Ciolacu, summoned lawmakers again from their summer season recess to attend an emergency session of parliament.
In addition to adopting laws on Monday to manage the brown bear inhabitants, the parliament held a second of silence within the 19-year-old hiker’s reminiscence.
The brand new legislation authorises the culling of 481 bears in 2024, greater than twice final yr’s whole of 220. Lawmakers argued that the bears’ overpopulation had led to a rise in assaults, whereas admitting that the legislation wouldn’t stop assaults sooner or later.
Environmental teams denounced the measure. “The legislation solves completely nothing,” mentioned Calin Ardelean, a World Wildlife Fund biologist, arguing that the main focus needs to be shifted in the direction of “prevention and intervention” in addition to “drawback bears”.
In keeping with WWF Romania, culls won’t treatment the issue until measures are put in place to maintain bears away from communities, akin to higher waste administration or stopping individuals from feeding animals.
In 2023 about 7,500 emergency calls to sign bear sightings had been recorded, greater than double the variety of the earlier yr, in response to knowledge introduced final week by Romanian authorities.
This article by Agence France-Presse in Bucharest was first revealed by The Guardian on 15 July 2024. Lead Picture: A bear on a street in Covasna, Romania, in September 2023. The nation is residence to about 8,000 brown bears. {Photograph}: Andrei Pungovschi/AFP/Getty Photos.
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