Bear that injured 5 during rampage shot dead, Slovakia officials say — but critics say the wrong bear was killed

Slovakia’s authorities on Wednesday stated the bear that attacked 5 folks within the nation earlier this month was shot lifeless, as Bratislava drafted plans to ease bear cull restrictions. However opposition politicians stated {that a} a lot smaller bear that had nothing to do with the rampage was really killed. 

The bear assault that left 5 folks, together with a 10-year-old woman, injured occurred within the heart of Liptovsky Mikulas, a city nestled within the foothills of the Tatra mountains close to widespread ski resorts, the BBC reported.

“A bear that injured 5 in Liptovsky Mikulas was efficiently shot lifeless yesterday… A biometrics drone was used to determine it,” the atmosphere minister Tomas Taraba stated on social media on Wednesday.

Bear assaults have been on the rise within the Central European nation, with 20 such incidents final yr, up from solely eight in 2021, in accordance with knowledge from the atmosphere ministry.

This month, a lady from Belarus died following a separate bear assault within the Demanovska Dolina valley space in Liptovsky Mikulas district, falling to her loss of life from a cliff after being chased by the animal.

On Wednesday, the federal government in Bratislava accepted a draft regulation to deal with the bear assaults in city areas.

The proposal stipulates the creation of a 500-metre security zone within the neighborhood of cities and villages.

Any bear getting into this zone might be shot, Taraba instructed journalists.

“Not solely members of the particular bear response workforce will have the ability to shoot, but in addition hunters, law enforcement officials, and, in nationwide parks, additionally their directors,” Taraba stated.

The Slovak populist authorities earlier this month printed tips on the protecting capturing of brown bears, prompting backlash from environmental teams and the opposition.

Opposition politicians additionally claimed authorities had shot the unsuitable bear, accusing the federal government of utilizing the difficulty forward of the presidential election on 6 April, the BBC reported.

“In accordance with paperwork written by the bear intervention workforce that we discovered, a 67-kilogram feminine bear was caught and killed,” Progressive Slovakia opposition get together member Michal Wiezik stated. “It’s not crucial to make use of high-end biometrics to make it clear that such a capturing can’t be in any approach associated to the 100-kilogram male they have been on the lookout for.”

“I am sure it is not the identical bear. It is apparent,” Wiezik instructed the BBC.

On Monday, the Slovak atmosphere minister, collectively along with his Romanian and Finnish counterparts, appealed to Brussels for an EU-wide answer to the difficulty of bears threatening folks, in accordance with the native TASR information company.