Farmers will be compensated for fields trampled by bison, beehives uprooted by brown bears, sheep killed by lynxes, and other damage caused by non-hunted wild animals.

The Minister of Agriculture Kazys Starkevičius promises to submit such amendments to the Seimas. 

„A draft has now been prepared which allows for compensation for damage caused by game animals, which will include bison,(...) because, let's say, the bison is a non-game animal and it used to be very difficult to decide who is supposed to compensate for it," the minister told the Seimas this week. 

He hopes that such amendments will be adopted by the parliamentarians: „We will adopt them this session“.  

Amendments to the Laws on Hunting and on Wildlife, drafted by the Minister, foresee that funds will be sought from the Environmental Protection Support Programme to compensate for damages. The damages would be compensated to growers of vegetables, gardens, bushes, apiaries and owners of livestock.

But the payments would be conditional on them making efforts to protect themselves from animal damage.

K. Starkevičius is convinced that this will encourage farmers to be more proactive in protecting their property. 

„These are animal species for which we cannot compensate otherwise. The environmentalists, the Ministry of the Environment, must also think about how to protect these species and, at the same time, compensate those who are harmed by them. They are protected, but the damage they cause is great," the initiator of the amendments explained to BNS. 

K. Starkevičius told BNS that he was not yet in a position to provide data on the losses suffered by the population and farmers due to wild animals: „When I present the amendments (to BNS) in the Seimas, I will try to provide detailed information.“    

The facts about the damage caused by wild animals are not currently recorded and the amount of damage is not calculated, but is available to individual municipalities where bison, lynx and bears have their own habitats, or where they stray.    

The number of bison in Lithuania is increasing: 308 in 2023 and 182 in 2016.The largest number of bison in Lithuania is found in the Kėdainiai District (207 in 2023). Due to the constant chasing of bison away from crops, livestock are crossing the "Via Baltica" highway and wandering into Kaunas and Jonava districts.    

According to the data of the State Service for Protected Territories, in 2018–2024, bears were spotted 69 times. In addition, it is estimated that up to 150 lynx live in Lithuania.