Romania’s parliament on Monday approved the culling of around 500 bears this year to curb the “overpopulation” of protected species, after a 19-year-old hiker was mauled to death by a bear, sparking nationwide outrage.
Last week, local media reported that a 19-year-old female tourist, identified by the Daily Mail as Maria Diana, was attacked and killed by a bear while hiking with her boyfriend.
“The information we have is that the bear attacked a young woman on the trail, dragged her into some vegetation beside the trail and somewhere in that vegetation dropped her into a crevice where she fell, and the bear followed her down,” Sabin Corniu, head of Romania’s mountain rescue service, told CNN’s Antena 3.
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The bear reportedly tried to attack rescuers but was later killed.
According to the Environment Ministry, Romania is home to the largest population of brown bears in Europe outside Russia, numbering up to 8,000.
The ministry said earlier this year that 26 people had been killed and 274 seriously injured by bears in the southeastern European country over the past 20 years.
Andrzej Pungovski/AFP via Getty Images
Following the death of a young hiker in an attack on a popular hiking trail in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolak recalled lawmakers from their summer break and called an emergency session of parliament.
Parliament adopted legislation to manage the brown bear population and held a moment of silence in memory of the 19-year-old hiker.
The law adopted Monday allows for the culling of 481 bears in 2024, more than double last year’s total of 220.
Lawmakers argued that bear “overpopulation” had led to an increase in attacks, but acknowledged the law would not prevent future attacks.
Environmental groups condemned the move.
“This law solves absolutely nothing,” Karin Ardelian, a biologist with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), told AFP, arguing the focus should shift to “prevention and intervention” and so-called “problem bears”.
WWF Romania says culling will not solve the problem unless other measures are taken to keep bears away from communities, such as improving waste management and banning feeding the animals.
Data released by Romanian authorities last week showed that some 7,500 emergency calls reporting bear sightings were recorded in 2023, more than double the number from the previous year.
Earlier this year in Slovakia, Woman dies The bear died after being chased through dense forests and mountains. Wildlife researchers previously estimated that Slovakia has the second highest bear density after Romania.
Photographer/REUTERS
