Bears entering settlements cause problems in many counties in Romania.
A rehabilitation center is being built on 61 hectares near Brasov for Romanian brown bears that enter populated areas and cause problems there, the Bizbrasov.ro news portal reported on Thursday.
The facility is being built in Tömös-völgy (Valea Timisului) in the region of the southern Transylvanian metropolis, on a 61.18-hectare area owned by the municipality of Brasov. The construction started on Wednesday in the presence of the Romanian Minister of Environmental Protection, Mircea Fechet, the Brasov news portal wrote.
According to the announcement of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Romanian state and Brasov forestry, as well as the forestry research and development center, are also involved in the project.
The center in the valley of the Tömös stream serves to protect and rehabilitate brown bears and can accommodate about a hundred individuals. This is where cubs, mother bears and adult males that cause problems in residential areas and cannot be moved to another area due to their deviant behavior are placed here.
According to the announcement, Mircea Fechet said: "Romania has proven that it can handle Europe's largest population of brown bears." According to the head of the ministry, more than 40 percent of the European herd lives in the Carpathians, and their number can be estimated at 6,400-7,200 individuals.
The Tömös-völgy rehabilitation center will be realized with ten million lei (778 million forints), of which 6.5 million lei (505 million forints) is the construction cost. 85 percent of the funding comes from the European Union, the rest from the Romanian state.
Bears entering settlements cause problems in many counties in Romania. In Hargita County, for example, the population had to be warned more than a hundred times this year due to the presence of protected animals.
The authorities shot three bears in Csíksomlyo on Wednesday, after the young, large animals used to littering could not be kept away from the settlement by any other method, and they threatened the safety of people.
MTI
Cover image: Bears often cause problems even in residential areas
Source: MTI/Nándor Veres
