Wednesday, 22 November 2017

Bear-faced Robbery?


Yet another example of the tension between people and conservation is seen in the recent responses of people in rural Romania to a hunting ban on Brown bears (and other carnivores) (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/22/how-the-brown-bear-became-public-enemy-number-one-in-rural-romania). It is estimated that there are around 6000 Brown bears in that country (there are paid tours to see them in the wild) but rural folk have claimed that stopping the activities of local hunting associations has destroyed the 'natural balance' between bears and people. Bears are blamed for 'attacks' on people, livestock and crops and some locals are developing poisonous baits to kill them. Getting people to tolerate potentially dangerous animals is not easy (especially if they dont see an economic benefit).

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