Romania introduces relaxed hunting rules for brown bears that threaten humans

Romanian Environment Minister Diana Buzoianu said on Thursday that the government had adopted a regulation as a matter of urgency that will relax rules banning the shooting of bears that endanger people, according to the news agency Mediafax.

In the future, an emergency committee will be able to take a decision if bears invade settlements. Under the previous rules, before dangerous bears could be shot, a number of steps had to be taken, such as scaring or putting the animals to sleep so that they could be moved to another location.

Experts say that these methods have not helped to prevent animal-human collisions. Bears have also attacked domestic animals such as sheep.

D. Buzoianu stressed that the old rules will continue to apply to bears living far from settlements where attempts will be made to scare or put them to sleep. In addition, the new rules will not apply to bears under one year of age, which will continue not to be shot.

The Carpathian Mountains are thought to be home to around 8,000 brown bears – this is the second largest population in Europe after Russia.

The bears often attack travellers, slaughter sheep on farms and rummage through urban rubbish bins in search of food, and their encounters with humans are often fatal.