On Wednesday afternoon, a bear attacked a member of the mountain rescue service in the Donovaly area in central Slovakia as he was making his way along a tourist trail, giving him a gash wound to the head. The man managed to call for help and was promptly taken to hospital.
The State Nature Protection brown bear intervention team investigated the incident immediately after the event. According to its findings, the rescuer disturbed the bear in a forest terrain, a brown bear's natural habitat. In an effort to defend its two cubs, a bear drove away a mountain rescuer from a tourist trail. The man fell while fleeing and suffered a head injury. “Meeting Slovakia's biggest beast is dangerous for people and it isn't our goal to belittle the situation. In spite of this, we draw attention to the intentional distortion of information and unsubstantiated spread of panic in society," stated State Nature Protection.
On Thursday, Parliamentary Chair and We Are Family leader Boris Kollar stated that the Environment Minister Jan Budaj is politically accountable for the growing number of bear attacks in the country.
"How long are you going to dilly dally? - until these 'vegetarians' kill a child? Or even better, a child alongside the mother? This is your direct responsibility, and you are politically accountable for this state of affairs, or, better said, your idleness, and if it comes to such a scenario, trust me, [We Are Family] won't support you," Kollar wrote on his Facebook account, addressing the message to Budaj.
The Environment Minister did not want to comment on Kollar's messages that he would not support him in a possible no-confidence vote. He wants to meet with Parliamentary Chair to solve together the problem of bears.
Parliamentary Chair Boris Kollar wants to deal with the problem of bears by regulation. According to him, the state could do it and shooting using permits would not have to be used. Budaj believes the problems with bears in the Podpolanie area in central Slovakia is caused by feeding racks and baits for wildlife set up by hunters. At a press conference on Thursday, he informed that there are 28 baits with four tonnes of feed. He therefore called on Agriculture Minister Samuel Vlcan to immediately stop feeding game in the Podpolanie area.
Budaj declared that all bears that show a loss of shyness or clash with inhabitants will be eliminated by the State Nature Protection brown bear intervention team. "Between 2015-2022, 53 percent of bear shooting took place in the Podpolanie area," he said.
The most recent census of the bear population showed that there are approximately 1,200 bears in Slovakia. According to conservationists, the recent changes in the behaviour of the animals can be attributed to people leaving food for animals in forests, growing corn in colder regions of the country and the fact that bears have relatively easy access to rubbish containers within and near populated areas.
Source: TASR
