A bear and her three cubs were spotted by authorities as they strolled by the shore of Lake Kastoria in northwest Greece on Wednesday evening. They took advantage of the absence of human beings on the tourist site after the measures imposed to fight against the coronavirus.
The animals were in the northern part of the lakeside promenade, where traffic has been banned since the end of March by a curfew which has been added to the general containment due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This walk is popular with tourists and residents of Kastoria, a town of some 47,000 people located in a valley surrounded by mountains where the brown bear, a protected species, often finds refuge.
She lives in a nearby mountain
"Overnight confinement combined with a lack of food created the conditions for the animal to take its young to a natural area of the city, by the lake," said Nikos Panayotopoulos, head of the rapid response forces of the city. He recommended that residents no longer walk with their pets in the north of the lake promenade where the bear and its cubs appeared.
Research is underway to determine if this female stays near the city and if she benefits from the absence of any human activity or if the search for food brought her to the edge of the lake. Authorities know she has lived in a nearby mountain for four years, said Nikos Panayotopoulos, stressing that the city's garbage cans must be emptied regularly to avoid attracting it.
Near Kastoria is a Natura 2000 area - a network of unspoiled natural sites in the European Union - as well as the Arcturos refuge. Since 1992, the latter has been protecting and caring for bears and wolves from the Balkans but also predators from Austria and Georgia.
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