The threat of over-protection

Romania is currently overpopulated with bears

Corina Cristea, 19.10.2018, 11:54

One in four species
of mammals and one in eight bird species are in danger of becoming extinct,
showed an experts’ report four years ago. According to them, plant and animal
species are becoming extinct at least 1,000 times faster than they did before
the appearance of humans on Earth. The cause: man’s harmful activities. The
situation is even more serious as the phenomenon is accelerating, and it is so
intense that experts are already talking about ‘a 6th mass
extinction’ after the one when dinosaurs disappeared, 65 million years ago. Many
mammal species will become extinct within the next 50 years, according to a
study carried out by scientists from Denmark and Sweden, which has been
recently made public in Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences. These scientists have proven that the 6th
mass extinction is under way at present, and it is not being caused by natural
disasters, but by human activity. Extinction is taking place at too fast a pace
for the evolution process to keep up with this phenomenon, researchers argue. What
can be done?

According to the
most optimistic scenario, people are going to stop destroying animals’ habitats
and contributing to the eradication of species. But, even if this optimistic
scenario becomes reality, mammals would need 3 up to 5 million years only to
become diversified enough for the evolution tree to regenerate the branches it is
likely to lose in the coming 50 years, according to estimates. Romania is among
the countries which, thanks to its geographical position and relief, benefits
from a rich fauna, and in its attempt to preserve this diversity of species, it
has laws that protect many animals such as bears, Carpathian roebucks, lynxes,
chamois, roosters, foxes, martens, beavers, wild boars and aurochs. Overprotection
may lead, however, to excessive reproduction, which generates hard-to-handle
situations. This is the case of the bear population in Romania, which,
according to official figures, is made up of 6,800 bears. Other statistics show
that the real number of the bear population is around 8,000, which is more than
the number for which Romania pledged to the European Commission to care in
Romania’s forests.

University professor Mircea Dutu, the president of the Ecological
University from Bucharest, explains: There must always be a balance in nature. When this balance gets
broken, we are no longer in a natural state, but in a degraded state, which is
no longer adequate for both partners, so to say, in this case, for man and
biodiversity in general. As regards this general issue, I would say that, in
Romania, bears and even wolves are considered natural and cultural symbols. For
instance, the bear is at the origin of local conflicts and of media campaigns
that promote the need to safeguard its natural habitat. Therefore, the issue
has been raised at European and international levels in terms of how rare and
how endangered a species is, including the bear. Also, the issue of the need for
bear protection by man has been raised. But, in Romania, the ecological
perception and the attitude to be adopted in this regard have been
misunderstood, which led to overpopulation with a certain species, which caused
a break in the ecological balance, and in turn entailed a different approach to
economic aspects and to means of protecting people and eliminating dangers.

The bear is a
species of interest for the community, so it has to benefit from proper
conservation conditions, but Romania has reached this absurd situation,
according to professor Dutu, in which it is overpopulated with bears. The
species has developed beyond the natural capacity meant to ensure the balance
necessary for obtaining a favorable conservation state and to allow for an
optimal harvesting quota, in line with the European legislation and the
Romanian legislation on hunting and protecting the hunting stock.

Here is
professor Mircea Dutu with more: We
are in a period of crisis. The annual quotas meant to ensure the necessary
balance inside the species have not been harvested since 2016. If the situation
is not managed properly, we will lose control of the phenomenon. Consequently,
a study is needed on the current state of the species, as well as an inventory of
the species, an assessment of the causes that led to such a situation, and of the
consequences. Also a plan on short, medium and long term has to be drafted to
deal with the issue, so as to be able to solve it within a reasonable period of
time. It’s an absurd situation, Europe complains about the lack of bears, while
Romania has too many bears that have become a threat to ecological balance, to
the economy and also to the population.

Over the past
years, in certain areas of Romania, bears have become a regular presence in
people’s courtyards, causing damage and even hurting people. And their number
is on the rise.