A state of emergency has been declared in several districts in the north of Slovakia due to the increasingly frequent visits of bears. These districts are in the Prešov and Žilina regions.
Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštók (Hlas-SD) said that the aim of declaring a state of emergency is to protect people living in towns. There will be more bear strike teams formed.
The Mayor of Klačno, Jozef Ďuriš welcomed the news. He said it would now be easier to shoot at bears.
"The problem with the classic removal of an individual bear is that it must be recorded which species it is, there must be photo documentation and only then can they eliminate it in cooperation with the Brown Bear Strike Team and hunters. Hunters are afraid to shoot a bear, as they do not know if it is one hundred percent the right one," Ďuriš explained.
Apparently, the state of emergency allows hunters to shoot at a bear without first asking for identification.
In recent news reports, these bears have often been described as synanthropic. As this term will probably appear more frequently in the future, we thought it might be helpful to tell you what this means. The dictionary says: “an undomesticated organism and especially an animal that lives in close association with people and benefits from their surroundings and activities.“
It puts bears in the same category as mice, pigeons or raccoons.
