Romania triples bear culling after fatal attack on young woman

4 months ago 29

Romanian MPs approved a law to manage the country’s bear population in Monday’s extraordinary session, agreeing to triple the annual culling quota after one killed a young woman in the Carpathian Mountains last week.

The new legislation increases the annual culling quota for 2024 and 2025 to 426 brown bears per year, up from the previous quota of 140. In addition, a so-called “intervention quota” has been introduced to allow 55 bears to be killed in emergency situations, such as attacks on people.

Due to its controversial nature, the bill has been under discussion in Parliament for some time and was fast-tracked after the tragic death of a 19-year-old woman in the Carpathians last week.

The Carpathians, in particular, have one of the highest bear densities, according to a study published last year by the Environment Ministry. The study also showed an increase in the bear population in Romania, from an estimated 5,900-6,500 in 2016 to the current 7,539-8,093.

Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu echoed this after consulting with experts, stating that the bear population is concentrated in certain areas due to a lack of food, which leads them to venture into human areas.

NGOs, meanwhile, argue that increasing bear culling is not a viable solution to overpopulation.

Agent Green has warned that Romania could be in trouble with the European Commission because bears are a protected species in the EU.

At the same time, the Conservation Carpathia Foundation has stressed that managing the bear population in Romania should include prevention, preservation of natural habitats, intervention measures and targeted education to resolve conflicts in the short term.

WWF Romania also expressed doubts about the effectiveness of culling.

“There are aspects without which, regardless of the laws we pass or the number of bears we shoot, we won’t solve the human-bear conflict in the long term,” said Cristian-Remus Papp, Wildlife Programme Coordinator for WWF-Romania. He criticised the current prevention and intervention quotas and opposed the law that allows “preventive hunting, including by foreign hunters who are not concerned with problematic bears, which are generally smaller.”

However, Social Democrat Alfred Simonis, the interim President of the Chamber of Deputies, assured that unrestricted bear hunting will not be allowed in Romania and that only high-risk areas will be targeted.

(Catalina Mihai | Euractiv.ro)