Taraba: Launch of Across-board Bear Cull Needed

Banska Bystrica/Bratislava, March 31 (TASR) - Slovakia has a "positive population growth among bears", which is why there's a need to embrace an across-the-board regulation, stated Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (SNS nominee) in response to a fatal bear attack in the Detva area of Banska Bystrica region on Monday. Taraba added that State Nature Protection (SOP) submitted a proposal on Monday to cull 350 bears as part of bear population management. The minister reported that a motion to declare a state of emergency in locations affected by the presence of bears will be submitted to a session of the government on Wednesday (April 2), with the aim of facilitating a cull. Taraba accentuated that the more bears there are, the more encounters and damages follow. "I'm convinced that, just as was introduced in Romania, we in Slovakia will introduce a preventive quota for shooting bears in the foreseeable future as well," he said. In this context, Taraba has already shared experiences with his Romanian counterpart. A dead man was found in the woods near Detva with devastating injuries. Preliminary information indicate that the man succumbed to an attack by a brown bear. mf/df