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Brown bear in Slovakia (symbolic photo)
Photo: Michaela Walch / imagebroker / IMAGO
The brown bear that injured five people in a small Slovakian town a week ago has been tracked down and shot. As Environment Minister Tomas Taraba announced on Facebook on Wednesday, the animal was killed on Tuesday evening.
Drones were also used to find the bear, as the TASR news agency reported. In addition, the “Brown Bear Operations Team,” which is part of the state nature conservation organization SOPSR, had set up a network of surveillance cameras to search for the animal. Patrols from the team as well as the police and hunters had combed the surroundings of the town of Liptovský Mikuláš.
Bites and scratches
The bear wandered through the city on March 17 and injured passers-by. Cell phone videos showed that the startled animal was running stressed through the streets between cars and was apparently looking for an escape route. It jumped at adults and children who couldn't get out of the way in time.
The people attacked, aged between 10 and 72, suffered bite wounds and scratches and one of them almost lost an eye, it was said at the time. The five injured people were able to go home after a short time in the hospital.
The incident had reinforced earlier calls from parts of the population and hunters for the bear population to be regulated through shooting. According to studies by SOPSR 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. In the event of a surprise encounter or if female bears believe their cubs are threatened, they can also attack.
kfr/dpa