Around 1,200 free -living brown bears live in Slovakia. The government now speaks of an emergency. Hundreds of animals have already been released for shooting. Now soldiers should help to track down and observe the animals.
In response to clashes with brown bears, Slovakia on the Hohe Tatra mountain range also wants to use its army in the future. The cabinet in Bratislava approved the use of up to 50 professional soldiers until the end of October. They should therefore primarily support monitoring, i.e. the tracking and observing of the animals in the wild.
In one of the first missions, a bear was killed on the site of an open-air museum in Pribylina in the north of the EU member state. To find it, drones and thermal imaging cameras were used. “The equipment and the technical aids of the army make an enormous contribution to the identification of the brown bears,” said Filip Kuffa, State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment.
The museum has been closed since the first sighting of the bear, who apparently lost the shyness of humans, for security reasons. The outdoor exhibition consists of old farmhouses, a church and other buildings that were implemented in the construction of a reservoir and thus saved from flooding. It is a popular destination for families.
Quarter of the Overall population released for shooting
According to the official count, there are around 1,200 free -living bears in Slovakia. At the beginning of April, the Slovak government under Prime Minister Robert Fico decided to release 350 brown bears for shooting – more than a quarter of the overall population. An emergency to protect the population was also explained. Shortly before, a 59 -year -old hiker had been attacked by a brown bear in a forest at Detva in Detva in Mittellovakia.
The decision of the cabinet caused outrage for environmentalists. Basically, brown bears in the European Union are strictly protected by the Fauna-Flora-Habitat guideline from 1992. An exemption in accordance with Article 16 of the Directive, however, enables a limited decimation of bears by hunters.
Brown bears usually avoid people when they see them in time. If there are surprising encounters or mother animals see their boys at risk, the predators can attack.
