<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The Romanian forests for many centuries now, have been a safe and most welcoming haven for the brown bears. According to World
<\/p>\n The bear is one of Romania’s natural
<\/p>\n The transport infrastructure, the urban one or the one
<\/p>\n Such a balance could be provided only
<\/p>\n The European Union’s Habitats Directive protects the
<\/p>\n Arthur, arguably the king of bears in Romania, has
<\/p>\n We, ever since 2009 and all throughout
<\/p>\n Meanwhile, against the backdrop of the Arthur scandal,
<\/p>\n Apart from such measures, which are
<\/p>\n Also according to World Wild Fund Romania, the
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Romania’s population of bears, under threat<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":143801,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42997],"tags":[39822,43849,35217,32186,43850],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-143800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-today","tag-bears","tag-extinct","tag-forest","tag-population","tag-species"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nWild Fund Romania, around 18,000 specimens can still be found in Europe; more
\nthan 8,000 of them live in the Carpathian Mountains, while 6,000 can still be
\nfound on today’s territory of Romania. It is the largest brown bear population
\nin Europe. World Wild Fund Romania’s Livia Cimpoeru is the organization’s PR
\nexpert, specializing in large carnivores. Livia Cimpoeru:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nriches. That is something we cannot ignore and I think everyone agrees to the fact
\nthat these natural riches need to be protected, because they can become extinct
\nand we somehow must take the responsibility for our actions, as what we consume
\nor what we do affects the well-being and the viability of such natural
\nresources.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nin the rural regions, has developed sensibly in recent years. The natural
\nresources, such as the mushrooms or the forest fruit have been overexploited:
\nno wonder then that the omnivore bear has been drawn to the areas where food was
\neasy to grab, that is to the areas populated by humans. Accordingly, some of
\nthe bears become a threat to the community; many people think they should be
\nkilled. But that is preposterous… according to Livia Cimpoeru.
\nWorld Wild Fund Romania’s philosophy to that effect says that
\nstriking a balance between man and animal is perfectly possible. Livia Cimpoeru:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nwhen we are capable of understanding, as a nation, as a people inhabiting this
\nterritory which has been blessed thanks to its extraordinary biodiversity, we
\nare the only ones, let me just say that once again, we are the only ones who
\ncan protect such riches. As long as we lay the blame entirely on the bear or
\nthe wolf or on other animals, for the human being-fauna conflict, we’re not
\ngetting anywhere. The bear is a wild animal, he cannot tell the good from the
\nbad, so he cannot take decisions, he cannot initiate all sorts of policies and
\nsuchlike. WE are the thinking species, the ones capable of being intelligent in
\ntackling such, how shall I put it, inconveniences or conflicts, so that solutions
\ncan be found. Our activities have an obvious impact on the bears and the
\noverwhelming majority of the man-bear conflict are caused by the man.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nbears, which are included on the list of protected animals that cannot be
\nhunted down for pleasure purposes or for trophy hunting, as they say. However,
\nin some of the Union’s countries, Romania included, hunting aficionados resort
\nto the Directive’s Article 16 which stipulates several waivers regarding the
\nhunting of a limited number of specimens, mainly of those that are dangerous to
\nhumans. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nrecently been shot. The news of the killing of an animal whose dimensions and demeanor were
\nimpressive has become viral across the planet. According to many people, in
\nRomania, the faulty way in which the national authorities protect those mammals
\nat the farther end of the trophic chain has yet again resurfaced as a problem
\nthat still needs to be solved. Actually, Arthur may have been shot down during
\na trophy-hunting party. A waiver was allegedly issued, for the killing of a
\ndifferent specimen that did a lot of damage to human households. Such practices
\nmust become past history…but what needs to be done for that? World Wide Fund
\nRomania’s Livia Cimpoeru:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nthe following years, have called for an improvement in the legislation whereby
\nsuch waivers are issued for the relocation and the harvesting (it is the technical
\nword used when bears are shot) \u02baas ever since such waiver executive orders have
\nbeen issued, beginning 2017, if I’m not mistaken, orders did not specify what
\nwould become of the bear carcasses, who was in involved in the process of
\nharvesting or relocation, what the destination was or who the end beneficiary was, of those shot animals. In
\n2019, we officially demanded that, in the action of harvesting no people
\nshould be involved other than the technical staff, so that suspicions of
\nharvesting being a trophy hunting in disguise may not exist. And then again, we
\nalso demanded that those problem-specimens be branded and actively monitor so
\nthat no suspicion whatsoever may exist, related to the extraction of the
\ntroubleshooter specimen. And Arthur is a blatant case in point. Again, we don’t
\nunderstand why, for so many years now, rapid intervention teams have not been
\nset up, for those areas where the bear population is obviously significant, As
\nwe speak, we do not have a real monitoring of the bear population in Romania,
\nbased on scientific research, we do not even have a monitoring of the habituated
\nbear population, which, in our jargon, designates the bears that, because of
\nhuman negligence, have associated the human beings with their source of food,
\nand in time, they repeatedly worked their way through to the areas inhabited by
\nhumans.<\/p>\n
\nthe Environment Ministry in Bucharest has made public the fact that the
\nlegislation has been changed, focusing on the shooting of bears posing a threat
\nfor the communities. According to the previous legislation, a 60-day grace
\nperiod was officially allowed, from the issuing of the papers endorsing the
\nharvesting to its implementation. Moreover, the legislation did not clearly
\nstipulate who was officially allowed to shoot the animal. According to the
\nrecently-changed legislation, no more than 15 days are allowed for the
\nextraction of the dangerous specimens, while that can only be done by the
\ntechnical staff of the association for which the waiver was issued. However,
\nLivia Cimpoeru says, the decision is welcome, but insufficient. Livia Cimpoeru:<\/span><\/p>\n
\nmerely face-saving, I daresay, hastily taken to cool down the public opinion,
\nother measures need to be taken so that, longer term, we can have a harmonious co-habitation with the bear. And
\nby that I also mean the implementation action, the financial support for
\nfarmers or households in the bear-populated areas, so that those people could
\nafford buying electric fences, watchdogs, capable of protecting their
\nlivestock, their households and suchlike. The pack of measures was made public
\nlast year by the former minister Costel Alexe, and we were extremely happy when
\nhe announced the ministry would launch a financing program for such prevention
\nmeasures, but that never happened and we don’t understand why.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nMinistry of the Environment has sufficient data they could start from, in a bid
\nto elaborate maps of the risk areas that can be made available to specialists,
\nlocal administrations and the lay public, so that these entities can have a
\nclear image of the areas with the most serious problems. World Wild Fund Romania is also part of an international
\nproject Euro Large Carnivores, a project with European funding, whereby the
\nco-habitation can be improved, between human beings and animals, through cross-border cooperation and communication. <\/p>\n
\n
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