The Ministry of the Environment announced on Wednesday, the 3rd of April, that a constitutional bill will be fast-tracked through parliament to allow local authorities and authorised hunters to shoot bears that approach residential areas, as the Slovak government claims they pose a threat to villages, reports Politico.
Under current rules, bears can only be killed when they have been pushed away from settlements or back into the forest. Under the proposed new rules, authorised persons would be allowed
to shoot them within 500 metres of village boundaries.
The draft law was drawn up after a woman died in March when she fell into a ravine after being attacked by a bear. In a separate attack, five people were injured and the bear was later shot. Video shows the bear swiping at a man on a pavement.
??#Slovakia: Two people are in hospital after being attacked by a bear in the Slovak town of Liptovský Mikuláš. A 49-year-old woman suffered an injury to her shoulder, while a 72-year-old man was treated for a gash on his head. Reports said police went on to drive the bear out of… pic.twitter.com/9v7DCi84bf
— Voice of Europe ? (@V_of_Europe) March 18, 2024
Environment Minister Tomáš Taraba, from the far-right Slovak National Party, who proposed the bill, has sought to relax bear protection rules at both national and European level.
At last week’s meeting of European Union environment ministers, Taraba called on the European Commission to lower the protection status of the brown bear.
Under EU law, bears are protected species,
which means that their killing is strictly regulated and must not endanger their conservation in the long term.
The fast-track procedure removes some obstacles in Parliament, but the Taraba law will still need broad support to be adopted.
The Minister expressed his determination to assess opposition support, describing it as a choice between the safety of the population and the view of “irresponsible NGOs” who claim that bears are herbivores and pose no threat to the population.
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