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Martin Sikma
@martin_sikma

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The European Brown bear has fascinated me since I first met them. Seeing these huge forest mammals roam through the woods gives me a sense of idea of how Europe must have been a few hundred years ago. Two weeks days ago, I was in Slovenia and read into the topic of bear conservation and hunting in Slovenia. Yes, Slovenia has a good bear population and organizations care about the conservation of the species. But there is another side as well. The Minister of Natural Resources and Spatial Affairs of Slovenia has issued a permit to shoot 230 brown bears this year (2023). In 2022 this was 222 bears, in 2021: hard to find a number, confirmed is 128 bears in the first 6 months. The main purpose is to prevent (crop) damage and ensuring people’s safety. Yes, hunting is practiced in nearly every country on the planet and (economic) damages is most of the time the excuse to cull. But the European brown bear is a protected species by EU law and culling of such a protected species in general is illegal. So why is Slovenia killing its bears? I read some literature that confirms indeed that Slovenia has a strong crop damage from bears, but that this is strongly related to how bears are ‘managed’. In order to keep the bears in the forests, there are feeding stations placed in the forests throughout Slovenia. During years when the beechnuts are scarce, the bears rely on those feeding stations. Thus, this ‘bear management’ strongly interferes with the natural cycle of bear survival. According to Slovenian NGOs: “Hunters use intensive feeding to accustom bears to readily available food so they are easier to hunt. The consequence is that the feeding attracts the bears closer to human settlements and is one of the reasons for the high growth rate of bears in Slovenia. Instead of culling, bear populations would be better regulated by reducing the number of feeding sites.” Continue reading in the comments 👇🏼 _ #bearhunting #hunt #culling #slovenia #europeanbrownbear #brownbear #protectwildlife #protectnature #naturelovers #naturephotography #wildlifephotography #baiting #bbcearth #huntingseason #natgeo #sonyalpha