engleski

Bear Emergency Team in Croatia

Brown bears (Ursus arctos) exhibit complex behavior which in some forms poses a problem for people living in or visiting the same area. Due to opportunistic life style bears occasionally search for food from anthropogenic sources. That may be the crops in the fields, domestic animals, food storages or organic waste in various stages of disposal. Such feeding habits are often combined with loss of fear towards humans. Though it very rarely leads to aggression on people, such behavior is unacceptable and is characterized as problem. Whatever strategy is applied to cope with the problem it requires the trained people in the field. In Croatia an operational Bear emergency team exists since 2005. The emergency team operates according to a protocol. In general it tries to ; a) prevent the appearance of all bear related problems, b) react in any unusual situation connected to bears, and c) help monitor all bear related issues. The members of the team, in cooperation with the hunting unit leaseholders or other local authorities, evaluate the situation and make a proposal about the intervention. That may include the lethal removal of problem animal. In the past three years we had 7 such cases. On the other hand the team members were also helping bears in trouble by rescuing 3 bears from poachers’ snares and one from a plastic container over his head. In general, it is important to show to the local inhabitants that, in cases of dangerous situations with bears, they are not left alone. For that purpose the team members visit unusual bear damage sites (big and/or repeated damage, close to homes), unusual bear death (traffic and other non-hunting) and cases of problem bear appearance

Brown bear; Emergency Team; Croatia

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