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Brown bear in Slovakia (symbolic image): Those attacked are said to have suffered bite wounds or scratches
Photo: Michaela Walch / imagebroker / IMAGO
A brown bear wandered through a city in Slovakia and injured five people.
Those attacked suffered bite wounds or scratches, said the mayor of Liptovský Mikuláš, Ján Blcháč, according to the TASR agency on Sunday.
The people between the ages of ten and 72 would have been able to leave the hospital by now.
One of them almost lost an eye.
A crisis team met in the city with around 30,000 residents.
According to initial findings, the bear may have crossed the Waag River and then got lost in the residential area.
He was also seen near a shopping center but was ultimately chased away into a wooded area.
According to the city administration, the brown bear should now be shot.
Liptovský Mikuláš is located around 200 kilometers northeast of the Slovakian capital Bratislava in a basin under the Tatra Mountains.
Just early on Friday evening, a hiker in Slovakia died while fleeing from a brown bear.
The 31-year-old tourist from Belarus fell down a slope and sustained fatal head injuries, the police said.
The woman's companion ran in a different direction after the encounter with the brown bear and was uninjured.
This accident occurred in the Demänovska Dolina valley near the Jasna winter sports center in the Low Tatras.
Up to 1200 bears living in the wild
According to studies by the state nature conservation agency in collaboration with scientists from Charles University in Prague, there are around 1,100 to 1,200 wild bears in Slovakia.
They usually avoid people if they notice them in time.
If there is a surprise encounter or if female bears believe their cubs are threatened, they can also attack.
In the current case it was still unclear whether it was a male or a female animal.
sun/dpa