The Romanian Parliament approved the Government Emergency Ordinance which will permit the shooting of bears which are considered as aggressive, in areas outside of the localities, instead of only bears that are in towns and other more populated areas.
UDMR put forward the amendment and parliament approved it. UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) deputy Kolcsar Karoly stated, “Today is a very important day. UDMR was the only political party that warned over the fact that overcrowding of bears would be a problem.
I am a man who knows and knows what it means to be an animal that sits at the highest level of the animal chain.
It [bears] appears in the inhabited areas. In the big cities, up from the 10-storey blocks of flats, the bear looks cute and looks like the teddy bear on the couch. These beasts are a real danger. Two people were killed in Mureș. People’s lives are above all else. For this reason, we have tabled an amendment that provides for the extension of the intervention in case of bear attacks and in the suburbs, both in the field and on the tourist paths”.
However, concerns that this would provide for “hidden poaching” were expressed by AUR (Alliance for the Union of Romanians), “We want to kill as many bears as possible,” said Rusu MP Daniel Gheorghe. “Then let's not let people drive because people die in accidents every year. Let's make a law against dogs, which both yesterday and the day before yesterday mutilated and killed people. It is not normal to kill animals. We must not make this a priority,” he added.
Konczei Csaba MP from UDMR added that most of the bear attacks took place outside of the villages in the sheepfolds and that the amendment was needed to prevent this, saying “Many lives have been lost. Doctors in hospitals have fought hard not only for the pandemic but also to save the lives of people attacked by bears. There is a state of fear in which many families in the country live. There are 13 counties in which the bear attacks. The vast majority of attacks took place outside the city, this amendment was needed. Today's vote is a clear message, the Parliament values the lives of the people”.
The Emergency Ordinance was approved on Wednesday, December 15th, 2021 and will permit bears to be shot and killed, tranquillised, relocated or extracted by euthanasia, however, the decision as to whether or not to kill the animal belongs to the intervention team, which will be led by the mayor of the locality and made up of a gendarme, a hunter and a veterinarian.
In the event that anyone attempts to take measures to prevent the intervention of the team, they can be fined between 7,000 lei (~€1,400) and 10,000 lei (~€2,000).
