The Slovak government has approved a controversial plan to cull around a quarter of the country’s brown bear population, following the fatal mauling of a man in a forest in Central Slovakia.
Prime Minister Robert Fico’s populist-nationalist government announced after a cabinet meeting that 350 out of an estimated 1,300 brown bears would be killed, citing the increased risk to humans following several recent attacks.
"We cannot have a country where people are afraid to walk in the woods," Fico said in a statement to the press.
A special state of emergency, which allows bears to be shot, has now been expanded to 55 of Slovakia's 79 districts, effectively covering much of the country.
The Slovak government had already relaxed legal protections for bears, permitting their killing if they venture too close to human settlements. By the end of 2024, 93 bears had been shot.
This plan to kill even more bears has faced strong criticism from conservationists, who argue it violates international obligations and could be unlawful.
“It’s absurd,” said Michal Wiezek, an ecologist and MEP for the opposition party Progressive Slovakia. “The Environment Ministry has failed to effectively reduce the number of bear attacks, and in response, they’re resorting to this extreme measure.”
Wiezek argued that the majority of human-bear encounters happen without incident, and he hopes the European Commission will intervene.
On Wednesday, Slovak police confirmed that the body of a man found in a forest near Detva, Central Slovakia, had been killed by a bear. His injuries were consistent with an attack.
The 59-year-old had been reported missing the previous day after failing to return from a walk. Authorities found him with severe head injuries, and a nearby bear den was identified by a local NGO.
The issue of bears has become increasingly political in Slovakia due to a growing number of encounters, including fatal ones. In March 2024, a 31-year-old Belarusian woman fell to her death in a ravine while fleeing from a bear in northern Slovakia.
A few weeks later, a large brown bear was filmed running through the center of Liptovsky Mikulas in broad daylight, darting past cars and lunging at pedestrians.
Authorities later claimed to have tracked down and killed the animal, but conservationists disputed this, providing evidence that a different bear had been shot.
Environment Minister Tomas Taraba stated on Wednesday that Slovakia’s bear population now exceeds 1,300, and that a number of around 800 would be more manageable, given the population’s growth. However, experts contend that the bear population remains relatively stable at around 1,270.
Bears are common across the Carpathian mountain range, which stretches from Romania through Ukraine, Slovakia, and Poland.
