The movies had been recorded simply two days after a deadly brown bear assault occurred within the close by mountains
One individual filmed the bear operating down the road from inside their automobile; one other perspective of the bear from one of many city’s red-light cameras. Images through Fb
Slovakia’s brown bears are getting some consideration from around the globe after a brutal weekend of assaults that left one individual lifeless, a minimum of two hospitalized, and a number of other townspeople nonetheless reeling. A series of videos shared to Fb on Sunday exhibits one in every of these bears inflicting chaos in a village because it runs down the road chasing individuals. The movies had been recorded simply two days after a Belarusian lady died whereas operating from a brown bear within the close by mountains.
The three movies posted to Fb yesterday morning had been shared by Marika Trnková Bizubová, a Slovak canine breeder whose profile is crammed with images of working Weimaraners. The movies, which she has since taken down or hidden from the general public, present a number of totally different angles of a brown bear operating amok in Liptovský Mikuláš, a small village close to the Low Tatras Mountains in northern Slovakia (a European nation sandwiched between Hungary and Poland). Because the bear runs down the road at full velocity, individuals flee in all instructions, some climbing fences as they attempt to get out of its manner. In one of many movies, the bear lunges and swipes at a person on the sidewalk.
“In response to preliminary data, 5 individuals had been injured (a 10-year-old lady, a 32-year-old man, a 49-year-old lady, a 58-year-old-woman, and a 72-year-old man),” Bizubová wrote in a translated model of the Fb publish that accompanied the movies.
The city’s spokesperson Viktoria Capcikova confirmed with the Agence France-Presse that these numbers had been correct. She stated the oldest sufferer, a 72-year-old man, was nonetheless being handled within the hospital.
“The bear spent about 20 minutes within the city centre, attacked 5 individuals and retreated into the woods,” Capcikova stated. She added that a number of patrols made up of hunters and law enforcement officials had been making an attempt to find the bear. On Monday, she and different authorities warned residents to not enterprise too far outdoors their properties because the bear was nonetheless on the unfastened.
Learn Subsequent: The Best Bear Defense Handguns of 2024
The incident was much more disquieting to native villagers as a result of two days prior, Slovakia recorded its first deadly brown bear assault since 2021. That assault happened within the close by Low Tatras Mountains, in keeping with BBC News, which spoke with the Slovak Mountain Rescue Service in regards to the incident.
Rescuers reported that the 31-year-old lady from Belarus was mountaineering with a male companion on a path within the Demänovská Valley Friday night when the bear confronted them. The 2 hikers then fled in numerous instructions, and the person was capable of run for assist and alert the authorities. It’s unclear whether or not the lady fell to her loss of life or was killed by the bear, in keeping with BBC, however her physique was discovered by search canines quickly after. Rescuers reportedly fired warning pictures on the bear, which was nonetheless close by on the time.
The back-to-back incidents spotlight the rising controversy round how brown bears are managed in Europe. Though they continue to be a protected species in most European international locations, many Slovak politicians, together with the present president, have referred to as for the removing of those protections as brown bear populations (and conflicts between bears and people) proceed to develop all through the Carpathian Mountains. On Friday, the Slovak surroundings ministry introduced that together with Romania, it will be submitting a proposal for the E.U. to reclassify the species.
Learn Subsequent: Hunter Impales Charging Brown Bear with an Ice Axe
Researchers estimate there are at present between 1,000 and 1,300 brown bears dwelling in Slovakia. A separate 2018 study printed in Norway counted a complete of 54 bear assaults there between 2000 and 2016. 5 years later, in 2021, the nation recorded its first deadly bear assault in additional than a century when a 57-year-old man was discovered lifeless after being mauled by a brown bear close to the village of Liptovska Luzna. That village lies lower than 30 miles away from Liptovský Mikuláš.
“There’ll nonetheless be individuals who will declare that that is regular,” Bizubová wrote in her Fb publish, talking to this current controversy over delisting brown bears. “So that folks within the villages and cities of Liptov are afraid to go for a stroll with their youngsters and dwell in enclosures!!”
