Parliament to meet in special session after deadly bear attack in Romania
Romanian lawmakers are set to meet in a special session to find a solution for the bears that come too close to villages or threaten people’s lives. The Parliament was summoned after a 19-year-old tourist was killed by a bear on the Jepii…
Radu Dumitrescu · Journalist
· Updated · 4 min read
Romanian lawmakers are set to meet in a special session to find a solution for the bears that come too close to villages or threaten people’s lives. The Parliament was summoned after a 19-year-old tourist was killed by a bear on the Jepii Mici trail in the Bucegi Mountains. The violent incident sparked heated debates in Romanian society, and some officials reacted by proposing that bear-hunting quotas be drastically increased.
Romania is home to Europe's largest brown bear population, outside of Russia, up to an estimated 8,000, according to official statistics.
The Romanian government, however, seems divided on how to deal with the issue of bears. Environment minister Mircea Fechet said that "relocating bears does not yield results," and given their number, managing them can only be done through euthanasia.
"Managing means either shooting or euthanizing. Because we have found that the relocation method we keep applying yields no results. And I say this because today (e.n. July 10) I spoke with the manager of the hunting grounds where this tragedy occurred. He told me that in recent years they have relocated over 100 bears to other counties, other hunting grounds, and other areas, just from that specific hunting ground," Fechet said, cited by Biziday.
However, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu seems to be looking for another solution.
“It is evident that human life comes first, but there will not be an open season for shooting bears across Romania at will. High-risk areas will be addressed," Ciolacu said.
President Klaus Iohannis also reacted to the deadly bear attack, saying that Romania is overwhelmed by the bear problem and that he is concerned it has gone this far. He also revealed that he had been on a trail close to the area where the 19-year-old was killed by the wild animal.
“The problem with bears is not new at all. The political class has always reacted to these unfortunate incidents only in a piecemeal fashion. There's a great emotion; a Government meeting is convened, it's discussed in Parliament, and then we move on. If we want to continue having healthy tourism, we need to understand that we cannot let people be killed by animals, just as I don't think animals should be for amusement. A middle ground must be found,” Iohannis said, cited by Digi24.
“It is evident that we have too many bears, too many incidents where people are injured or even killed by bears, and this cannot continue,” he added.
