The Environment Agency and hunters agree that there are many bears in Estonia, but admit that it is difficult to give an exact number due to the problems of counting, writes ERR News.
The Environment Agency has installed around 700 trail cameras in remote areas that are visited by fewer people to keep track of what wildlife is there.
Christel Rose Bachmann, a senior specialist at the Environment Agency, said that bears, like people, know how to pose for cameras.
Both the board and hunters confirm that there are many bears in Estonia. Bachmann pointed out that among the Baltic countries, Estonia is definitely the leader in terms of the number of bears.
According to the Estonian Hunters’ Association, the bear population in Estonia has increased from 1,531 in 2022 to 1,920 today.
However, no studies have been conducted in Estonia to date on the size of local bear territories, which makes it difficult to determine the exact number of bears.
Hunters’ Association board member Priit Vahtramäe said: “Hunting districts count the bears they see within their territories, and obviously, these bears move across one to ten different districts. So they’re clearly being counted multiple times.”
In 2000, hunters estimated that there were around 1,000 bears in Estonia. Vahtramäe said that the Environment Agency agreed with this number, and given that fewer bears are hunted each year than are born, their population has grown and continues to grow. He added that there could currently be around 1,100 bears in Estonia.
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