Romanian interim agriculture minister aiming to take brown bears off protected species list

Deputy prime minister and interim minister of agriculture, Tanczos Barna, announced on Wednesday, June 10, that he initiated a process to remove the brown bear from the list of protected species and move it to another annex. The process takes place at the level of the European Commission.

Barna, a former environment minister and longtime crusader for the hunting of bears, motivated the initiative by pointing to the growing number of brown bears in Romania and the dangers they pose. He also reminded that legislation he authored increasing bear hunting quotas for 2026 to roughly 900 is currently blocked for review at the Constitutional Court.