Bears back in the spotlight after recent attack, encounters in Romanian mountain towns
Bear encounters continue to be an everyday reality to residents of mountain regions in Romania. This fact was made even more obvious after the head of the mountain rescuers in the town of Predeal, Brasov county, was attacked by a bear on…
Radu Dumitrescu · Journalist
· Updated · 4 min read
Bear encounters continue to be an everyday reality to residents of mountain regions in Romania. This fact was made even more obvious after the head of the mountain rescuers in the town of Predeal, Brasov county, was attacked by a bear on Sunday evening, March 30. Meanwhile, the locals of Busteni, in neighboring Prahova county, have been complaining of bears coming out the forest in search of food at dumpsters.
The man attacked by a bear in Predeal was on his way home after finishing his workday when he was reportedly caught off guard by the bear. Witnessing the attack, a passerby called the emergency service, and two SMURD emergency teams, including one intensive care unit, were urgently dispatched to the scene to provide specialized medical assistance.
The man was found unconscious and in a critical state. He was rushed to the hospital, with injuries to his head, face, and back. He remains in critical condition.
According to local sources, the attacker was a female bear with two cubs. The three had been frequently spotted in the area.
After the attack, the president of Salvamont Romania, Sabin Cornoiu, called for urgent measures against bears. "We aspire to have tourist resorts, but as we can see, we are unable to manage these situations. It could have been anyone, not just the head of Salvamont. A solution must be found so that this does not happen again,” he said, stating that the animals have become bolder, according to Biziday.
Prahova prefect Emil Drăgănescu echoed Cornoiu, demanding higher bear culling quotas to stop attacks and warning that bear encounters will only increase in the summer. The hunting quota was already increased last year after a deadly bear attack in the Bucegi mountains. However, environmental NGOs and specialists have repeatedly warned that hunting alone is not a sufficient solution to lower the number of bear attacks or sustainably manage the population.
Environment minister Mircea Fechet also reacted to the recent news, saying that relocating or driving bears away from urban areas "does not yield sufficient results." He supports the idea that problem bears - those that are aggressive, scavengers, or beggars - should be shot, including those that approach urban areas.
The minister also told news channel Digi24 that the annual quota for bear culling could be revised, and noted that the next step, after removing the wolf from the list of strictly protected species, should be to remove the bear from that list as well.
