Five injured in second bear attack in Slovakia in three days

5 individuals have been injured within the second bear assault in Slovakia in three days, officers have mentioned, prompting a northern city to declare a state of emergency and authorities to suggest reclassifying the animals’ standing on the protected species checklist.

A 49-year-old lady was handled in hospital for an damage to her shoulder, and a 72-year-old man for a minimize to his head, after the incident on Sunday in Liptovský Mikuláš, close to the Tatra mountains, native authorities mentioned.

A ten-year-old lady and two additional adults suffered scratches and bruises, authorities mentioned, whereas a pair pushing their little one in a buggy have been “fortunate to flee unhurt”. Folks have been requested to not depart residential areas. Authorities on Monday mentioned the bear was nonetheless at giant and 6 armed patrols have been searching it.

“The bear has been pushed into uninhabited zones by rescue and safety forces the place emergency groups … have orders to eradicate it,” the city corridor mentioned, calling on residents to train most warning particularly within the early morning and night.

“Hunters will patrol within the at-risk space, police patrols have been strengthened and brown bear emergency groups from everywhere in the nation have been ordered to our metropolis and environment. A thermal think about drone can be being deployed.

“We’re a city between mountains, however nonetheless a city. We can not permit a bear to assault 5 individuals within the centre in broad daylight.”

Cell phone footage posted on social media confirmed the bear charging alongside a street and over a zebra crossing as terrified pedestrians scattered, then bounding throughout a inexperienced area and lunging at a person hurriedly climbing a fence to flee it.

The incident got here a day after a 31-year-old Belarussian lady, recognized by native media as Tatiana, died whereas attempting to evade a brown bear within the Low Tatra mountain vary close to the identical city.

The lady had been strolling in a thickly forested space on the western aspect of the Demänovská valley within the Low Tatras with a 29-year-old male companion, the Slovakian mountain rescue service mentioned, when the bear charged.

The pair cut up and ran in reverse instructions. Rescue groups with canines and drones mounted a search after being alerted by the person, who was positioned “scared however unharmed” on the high of a steep ravine. The lady’s physique was discovered on the backside.

Slovakian authorities mentioned on Monday their preliminary investigation had proven the lady died because of her fall, relatively than – as earlier media reviews had urged – after being mauled by the bear.

Improved environmental safety in central and japanese Europe for the reason that late Nineteen Eighties has led to bears returning to their pure habitats throughout the Carpathian mountains, which stretch from Romania, via western Ukraine, to Slovakia and Poland.

Slovakia has witnessed a number of bear assaults in recent times, together with its first deadly assault in additional than a century, in 2021. A 57-year-old man was discovered within the central Banskô valley along with his hip, neck and hand mauled and up to date bear prints close by.

Final November, a German environmental campaigner was badly mauled by a bear in Poland after getting into the animal’s lair within the Bieszczady mountains in Poland, however survived after being airlifted to hospital.

Members of Slovakia’s populist, nationalist coalition authorities have referred to as for the animals’ standing on Slovakia’s endangered species checklist to be relaxed, arguing that with an estimated home inhabitants of 1,275, bears can now be hunted and culled.

On Sunday, the junior surroundings minister, Filip Kuffa, outlined a draft legislation to permit bears to be shot exterior city areas below sure circumstances. Together with Romania, the Slovakian ministry goals to suggest a reclassification of the species at EU degree.

This text by Jon Henley was first printed by The Guardian on 18 March 2024. Lead Picture: Bear fees via Slovakian city as 5 individuals injured in assaults – video.

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