A group of EU countries pushed Monday to lower the protection status of bears in Europe and relax hunting restrictions, citing an increase in attacks against humans and livestock.
In a letter to fellow European Union members, Romania and Slovakia said rapidly expanding bear numbers were to blame for a spree of incidents.
Bears killed 18 people and seriously injured more than 200 in the two countries over the past five years.
They also accounted for a good part of the more than 2,000 domestic animals, including horses, cattle, sheep, goats and pigs mauled to death by large carnivores at a hefty economic cost since 2023, they said.
¡°As an apex predator with no natural predators of its own, the species urgently requires effective management,¡± they wrote in the letter which was backed also by Croatia, the Czech Republic and Finland.
The issue was discussed at a meeting of agriculture ministers in Luxembourg on Monday.
The appeal follows a recent similar move against the wolf which proved successful, resulting last year in a lowering of the canine¡¯s protection status.
¡°Romania and Slovakia call for a similar approach to be applied to the brown bears,¡± the countries wrote.
A majority of EU nations need to back any such proposal for the bloc to be able to initiate procedures to change bears¡¯ protection status ¡ª a move opposed by environmental groups.
Bears are not the only species facing calls for a cull.
Last month, nine EU countries said the great cormorant¡¯s population might need a trim, for the bird was eating too much fish for the liking of human fishers.
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