Romania’s parliament has approved the culling, reduction of a wild animal population by selective slaughter, of around 500 brown bears this year. The decision was made in an effort to control the “overpopulation” of the protected species after a hiker was mauled to death, according to reports.
Romania has a population of around 8,000 brown bears, according to the country’s environment ministry. That makes Romania the European nation with the largest brown bear population (outside of Russia).
The ministry stated that throughout the past 20 years, bears have killed 26 people and severely injured 274 others.
Last week, a young hiker was mauled to death on one of Romania’s popular Carpathian mountain trails. Proceeding this horrific incident, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu summoned lawmakers away from their summer recess to attend an emergency session of parliament.
The parliament held a moment of silence in honor of the 19-year-old who passed away before adopting the legislation to “control: the brown bear population.
This new legislation authorizes the culling of 481 bears in 2024, which is more than twice last year’s total of 220. Lawmakers have often argued that the bears’ overpopulation in Romania has led to an increase in attacks, however, they also admitted that the legislation itself won’t prevent attacks in the future.
Environmental groups and animal activists, however, have been speaking out against the new measure, claiming it won’t actually do anything besides kill wild animals.
Calin Ardelean, a World Wildlife Fund biologist, argued that we need to focus on how to better prevent attacks instead of just killing off the brown bear population.
“The law solves absolutely nothing. The focus should be shifted towards prevention and intervention as well as problem bears.”
WWF Romania stated that culls will not fix the problem unless other measures are implemented within communities where bears have been known to be. These measures would include better waste management, and legislation to prevent people from feeding wild animals in general.
Last year, around 7,500 emergency calls were made for bear sightings, which is more than double the amount of calls in 2022, according to the Romanian authorities.
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
