EU nations want reduced protection for bears

Brown bear Andri cools down in a pool of water at Bear Sanctuary Pristina, home to 20 bears rescued from restaurant cages across Kosovo and Albania, in Mramor near capital Pristina, Kosovo, on Thursday, July 8, 2021.

A group of EU countries pushed Monday to lower the protection status of bears in Europe and relax hunting restrictions, citing an increase in attacks against humans and livestock.

In a letter to fellow European Union members, Romania and Slovakia said rapidly expanding bear numbers were to blame for a spree of incidents.

Bears killed 18 people and seriously injured more than 200 in the two countries over the past five years.

They also accounted for a good part of the more than 2,000 domestic animals, including horses, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs mauled to death by large carnivores at a hefty economic cost since 2023, they said.

“As an apex predator with no natural predators of its own, the species urgently requires effective management,” they wrote in the letter which was backed also by Croatia, the Czech Republic and Finland.

The issue was discussed at a meeting of agriculture ministers in Luxembourg Monday.

The appeal follows a recent similar move against the wolf which proved successful, resulting last year in a lowering of the canine’s protection status.

“Romania and Slovakia call for a similar approach to be applied to the brown bears,” the countries wrote.

A majority of EU nations need to back any such proposal for the bloc to be able to initiate procedures to change bears’ protection status -- a move opposed by environmental groups.

Bears are not the only species facing calls for a cull.

Last month, nine EU countries said the great cormorant’s population might need a trim, for the bird was eating too much fish for the liking of human fishers.