Slovakia… The killing of a 50-year-old man by a bear reignites the controversy over its hunting ban

Slovak authorities announced today, Wednesday, that a 57-year-old man was killed by a bear in the Bansko Valley, about 250 km from the capital Bratislava.

The security authorities said that they found the body of the Khamisni man, torn and dumped in the valley, and traces of bear attacks are on the body, according to what was quoted by the French news agency “AFP”.

“This is the first known case of fatal bear encounters in the history of modern Slovakia,” said Marina Dibnarova of the State Forestry Agency.

Dipnarova stressed that “the man was bitten in the head and neck, and the autopsy results confirmed that he had indeed died of his wounds sustained by the bear.”
This incident angered the hunters, who demanded that the authorities cancel the ban on hunting bears in the country.

“We did everything we could to protect the bears, now is the time to protect the people,” said Emmerich Sopa, head of the Slovak Hunters Association.

“The number of brown bears in his country, which fell to 30 in the 1920s, now exceeds 2,700, according to the Forestry Agency,” Soba said.