Romanian Government Concedes Bear Relocation Does Not Work

On July 10, 2024, a 19-year-old tourist woman and her boyfriend hiking in Romania were attacked by a European brown bear. The couple was on the emergency phone line with authorities as the woman and man followed directions on how to handle a bear. The woman was attacked, dragged off, killed, and partially eaten. The bear attacked authorities attempting to recover the body and was shot and killed.

The European brown bear in Romania is a sub-species of the worldwide population of brown bears. The species includes the North American Grizzly, the Japanese Ussuri brown bear, the Kodiak bear, and the European brown bear in Russia. All are part of the same species, with the primary variation caused by the availability of food. Where food is plentiful, such as along salmon streams, the bears become very large. In mountainous regions, the bears tend to be smaller, with average mature boars at about 400-500 lbs.

In Eastern Europe, there is a large population of grizzly/European/brown bears. Romanian has over 8,000 heavily protected bears. They have been increasing and causing increasing problems. The Romanian population is four times larger than the population of Grizzly bears in the lower 48 states. The population in the lower 48 is concentrated around the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and Glacier National Park. From aussiedlerbote.de:

Approximately 8000 brown bears live in the Carpathians of Romania – and they continue to attack hikers. In one of these attacks, a 19-year-old woman has died. The young tourist was dragged away by the wild animal in the south of Brasov, in the Bucegi-Massif, according to an eyewitness who placed a call after the incident. This was reported by the Romanian news agency Mediafax.

Less than an hour later on Tuesday evening, mountain rescuers and police recovered the woman’s body. They reportedly shot and killed the bear, as it had allegedly attempted to attack the rescuers.

The Romanian government took quick action. From ziarelive.ro:

The plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, convened in an extraordinary session, approved on Monday the draft law aimed at measures to manage the bear population.The bill was approved with 214 votes “in favour”, seven votes “against”, 23 abstentions.

Mircea Fechet, the Romanian Minister of the Environment, Water, and Forests, was able to pass a measure to cull 500 bears. This was the number Fechet had called for previously. The number had been negotiated down to 220 bears. He observed that the mere relocation of bears moves the problem bears to other jurisdictions. From romaniajournal.ro:

Mircea Fechet claims that relocating bears does not produce results. “Managed means either shot or euthanized. Because we found that the method of relocation that we keep applying does not give any kind of results. And I say this because, today, I talked to the manager of the hunting fund within whose radius this tragedy happened, who told me that in recent years he relocated to other counties, to other hunting funds, to other areas over 100 of bears, only from the respective hunting fund. This means that relocation does not work. Relocation only means that you move the problem from one county to another county, from one city to another city or to the hunting fund,” the Minister of the Environment said.

 From aljazeera.com:

Romania’s government has more than doubled the number of bears that park rangers can legally kill, approving the culling of almost 500 bears this year following a deadly attack on a hiker that caused a nationwide outcry.

The law adopted on Monday in an emergency meeting of parliament authorises the culling of 481 bears in a bid to control “overpopulation” in the protected species, a figure that is more than twice last year’s total of 220 bears culled.

Romania has adopted a practical approach to the culling of bears. If a bear needs to be harvested, hunting guides in the area are allowed to contract with a licensed private hunter to hunt for the bear. Bear hunts cost as much as $15,000. The state is spared the expense of paying state employees to remove the bear. The local economy is enhanced, with guides being paid by hunters for the privilege of hunting the great bears, which is made more difficult by the necessity of taking a specific animal. Instead of costing the state resources, resources flow into the local area, giving incentives for locals to preserve bears as possible income instead of viewing them merely as destructive pests.

Romanians, as with most Europeans, are not allowed to carry handguns for protection. The Czech Republic and Estonia are exceptions, where the carry of handguns is allowed after considerable training and regulation.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.