Bear Safety and Conservation in Slovakia and the Czech Republic: Expert Insights and Recent Events

However, the public was still on the lookout and it was recommended to enter the forests where it was confirmed only with more caution. In addition, people associated this animal with recent cases of bear attacks in Slovakia.

However, according to experts on large animals, the situation of a bear in Zlín was completely different.

“In Slovakia, the situation of bears is getting unnecessarily worse. It is caused by the politicians who came to power. Publicists issue populist orders and do not want to hear about the scientific method. They are replacing the scientific method with a shot,” recalled František Šulgan from the Beskydy Protection District on the recent case of Očová mayor and member of the Slovak Parliament, Rudolf Huliak (SNS), who shot a female bear.

According to expert on large animals Michal Bajda from the Duha Movement, the probability of meeting a bear in our situation is very low. Šulgan, who has been studying large animals for several decades, agrees with this. According to him, a bear can only be dangerous in certain circumstances.

“When you meet him up close, he gets surprised and reacts to his defenses. No one ever wants his food. He never waits for anyone to attack him. When we meet a female bear with cubs, it is again a source of concern for her children. The female bear must protect the cubs even from the male bear. I am not surprised by the behavior of the bear. There are many cases that the bear targets a dog that was with its master. When you approach a dead animal, be careful, it might be the food, and you are afraid to take it from him,” said Shulgan.

Another factor that causes bears to reach human settlements in Slovakia is that the space where large animals can live in a peaceful environment is shrinking, and the weight of animals is also co -related to this.

“In Slovakia, more roads and bike paths are being built now with the funds of the European Union. There are cases when the bear reacts to the movement of runners or cyclists,” explained Šulgan.

According to him, cases of attacks in Slovakia always follow the same circumstances: “A stressed bear in Liptovské Mikuláš was respected by cars, from which it ran away, and then it attacks people even more pressure. Tourists from Belarus walked outside the tourist signs on the wild land. So are mushroom pickers. A dog was with the man whose leg had been bitten by a bear. The situation repeats itself. The dog is released freely in nature. The bear found the dog and ran after it. The dog ran after his master and took the bear. He hid behind his master and the bear was biting his calf.’

In extreme cases, even scientists admit that it is possible to kill the bear. “This happened every year, but without hysteria. Today, Czechs cancel their vacations in Slovakia for fear that ferocious bears are waiting for them there,” František Šulgan shakes his head and adds an example from previous years :

“In 2019, when we were catching the Emu bear in the Beskydy Mountains, which was moving again to the Slovak side of the Javorníky mountains, an old woman from the eastern neighbors called me to take the bear with her ‘collar back to Bohemia. I explained to her that she had come home to Slovakia after all. And she said, We are afraid of him. When I replied that there were eight bears living in their area, she replied that she was only afraid of the one with the collar.’

Compared to Slovakia, where the number of bears has increased to today thirteen hundred, the eastern part of the Czech Republic maintains the position of a buffer zone, where the number of these animals varies in smaller units.

Now, according to Bajda, it is the only bear that is likely to return soon to the Slovak side of the Javorníky from its present presence in Wallachia.

“Although there are more bears in Slovakia than, for example, twenty years ago, there are still only a few bears roaming in the Beskydy area of ​​the Moravian-Slovak border. There is no other place in the Czech Republic. Their move to Moravia is probably related to the feasibility of the landscape, whether migration barriers or closer traffic in the area of ​​the Váhu and Kysuca valleys,” said Bajda.