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Bears in the news

The media often make us fearful when we hear from them about conflicts between people and bears. As television and newspaper reports are often sensationalised and one-sided, we have created this special section of the website for news and comment, which gives a more complete and accurate portrayal of these fascinating animals. The information comes directly from the field and scientific research.

"Witch hunt" for bears (from summer 2007)

Director of the State Nature Conservancy, Ján Mizerák, and other hunting advocates have been speaking of a need to reduce the number of bears in Slovakia by 50%, supposedly due to "over-population". There are currently more bears living in Slovakia than in recent decades, but this does not mean that they are "over-populated". Thanks to legal protection the population has recovered from almost being wiped out by heavy hunting pressure in the 1930s. It might seem logical to say that if there were fewer bears they would cause less damage and there would be fewer encounters with them. But is that really so? More ...

Are bears in Slovakia "over-populated"? (summer 2007)

Since the summer there have been reports in the media about injuries and damage caused by bears. Together with these reports the opinion is often expressed that bears are "over-populated". This argument is linked to the goal of hunting, which has been permitted since the 1960s. At that time, some hunting managers considered the "optimal" number of bears in Slovakia living in a range of around 12,000 km2 to be 300-400 bears. The bear population in Slovakia was then much smaller than presently because it was still recovering from having almost been eradicated by hunting. Scientific studies were lacking and so knowledge about bear ecology was very limited. More ...

Young bear "scared away" tourists (spring 2007)

During the night of 11th to 12th May 2007 for the first time we tested a specially designed bear-proof refuse bin at a hotel in the High Tatras where a young bear has been a frequent visitor. The hotel, together with several chalets, is located next to the main road from Tatranská Lomnica to Poprad. The young bear got used to visiting refuse bins at the hotel which it can easily open, not far from forest cover. Claims in the media about how the behaviour of the 2-year old bear had scared tourists away turned out to be untrue. According to our observations, tourists saw the bear as an interesting attraction and were not afraid even to approach it to take photographs. We saw how this bear was not afraid to approach tourists sitting around a cooking fire, where he was obviously attracted by the smell of sausages. An employee of the hotel told us that the tourists threw food to it. It is this kind of irresponsible behaviour that could make the bear a danger to people. More ...

Bears not getting enough sleep? (winter - spring 2007)

This year, as in many other years, there have been reports in the media that newly awakened bears are "agitated" because they did not sleep enough during the winter and are hungry. These are human perceptions, showing a misunderstanding of how bears live. Bears do not sleep in winter because they are tired. They enter a state of dormancy in order to conserve energy when food is scarce. More ...

"Killer" bear (autumn 2006)

Even though it is now quite some time since forester Ján Gejdoš was mauled by a bear in the early afternoon of 18th August 2006, there continue to be reports about it in the press, supported by lobbying for increased trophy hunting. People are being needlessly frightened without any effort to offer useful advice on how to avoid dangerous encounters. For example, on 20.3.07 TV Joj included an item entitled "Attacked by a bear" in its main evening news programme. It referred to the attack on Mr. Gejdoš, which had occurred 7 months earlier. Mr. Gejdoš’s injuries were very serious and he may never fully recover. He, his family and others affected therefore have our deepest sympathies. In the interests of public safety, however, we feel it our duty to point out how the circumstances of the attack have been misrepresented in much of the coverage of this tragic event. More ...

Hrádok bears (summer - autumn 2006)

There has been a lot of talk this year about bears in the vicinity of Liptovský Hrádok, like last year, when bears used the area around Borová Siho. In newspapers, they write about such events very dramatically. Many readers may have been frightened by the statement in Hrádok News no. 9 that, "wariness, respect and fear of humans almost don't exist in the bear." More ...

Bears are awakening (spring 2006)

Some bears in the Tatras have already emerged from their dens. According to zoologist Robin Rigg of the Slovak Wildlife Society (SWS) - visitors to mountain areas need not panic. "Some people traditionally scare the public at the end of winter with the announcement that hungry and aggressive bears are wandering the forests, but it is not quite like that," says Rigg. "Bears do not eat while in their dens and lose 15-40% of their autumn weight, but after winter their metabolism is still slow. And besides this, so far there has not been any case in Slovakia of a bear attacking a person as prey." More ...

Propaganda at citizens' expense (autumn 2005 - winter 2006)

Perhaps you have noticed that in the media there are regular reports that bears are dangerous, that they are "over-populated" in Slovakia and because of this there are problems, that there are a lot of them and so the only solution is shooting. Experts may be shown in these reports but they are almost always only from one side - hunters. They sometimes use nonsensical arguments and distorted facts. Why were these reports in the media so intensively in winter, when bears are in their dens and not causing problems? Is it just a coincidence that at the beginning of March there was a country-wide meeting at which hunters requested the cancelling of several restrictions on hunting and increased opportunities for bear hunting? More ...

Bears near human settlement (summer 2005)

Recently it has not been unusual to see and hear about bears near human settlements or on busy hiking paths. In the media, reports appear of how bears are "attacking" and threatening people. Supposedly they are no longer behaving naturally and are not afraid of people. There can be various causes but often we are to blame - people. Why? To see a bear, if nothing bad happens, is a great experience, and so some people try to create the opportunity themselves. Cottage owners in the Podbanské area like to "leave something here and there" for bears if they find they are near. But bears will come again and expect to get the same again - food from people. They then become habituated and dangerous. They lose their natural wariness and such bears which threaten people often cannot be disuaded and a radical solution is then required - usually shooting. More ...