A recent tragedy made the question topical again.
With the reauthorization of bear hunting, which was discontinued by the Cioloș government in 2016, the regulation of the number of bear populations would again be entrusted to the hunting associations.
The draft law of the RMDSZ developed in 2023 will be discussed by the Bucharest House of Representatives as the decision-making chamber at its extraordinary session on Monday, and if the in-laws vote, a new era in wildlife management will begin.
Hargita county senator Barna Tánczos hopes that at the extraordinary session convened for July 15, Monday afternoon, the House of Representatives will vote as a decision-making forum on the bill on the regulation of bear populations through hunting, submitted by RMDSZ and adopted in the Senate on November 6, 2023.
The RMDSZ politician told Krónika that he was annoyed by the attitude of "cowardly politicians who suddenly turned into heroes", who had not dared to deal with the issue until now, only after another tragedy had occurred.
"I will also participate in the committee meeting before the plenary debate. I hope that there will be no significant changes in the draft law submitted by the RMDSZ - in this case, the risk is that a solution will be thrown in out of thin air, which will upset the entire system - but if things go well, then a long-term solution to bear attacks and to eliminate damage caused by wild game," pointed out the former minister of environmental protection.
Speaking about the antecedents, Barna Tánczos said that the draft law is 99 percent identical to the ministerial decree prepared by him, which, with a little luck, could have been published in the Official Gazette in 2023, after the government role of the RMDSZ was suspended.
The ministerial decree was "crossed" by the Romanian Academy, which gave a negative opinion after the departure of the head of the ministry, so the legislation was withdrawn by the government. The arguments put forward against it were completely unfounded, since it was born on the basis of a study ordered and accepted by the Ministry
the preventive quota for the shooting of 426 bears per year, and the draft would also allow the shooting of 55 more big game that pose a danger to both humans and domestic animals in individual settlements.
The "mowed down" ministerial decree, as well as the draft law created as a result of it, require the release of 481 individuals per year by 2024 and 2025. If the draft is accepted, its biggest innovation will be that the bear will become huntable again. The last example of this was in 2016, when the technocratic government led by Dacian Cioloș stopped bear hunting.
According to the RMDSZ senator, it takes so long to restore normal wildlife management because during the Cioloș government, all wildlife management professionals and institutions who participated in counting and assessing the bear population were reported to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (DNA).
The ultra-liberal government used this method to intimidate the profession, because it was aware that the previously issued annual prevention quota required an estimate of the number of wild animals.
If there is no game census of scientific value, there is no need for a shooting quota.
The unsustainable situation dragged on until 2021, when the ministry led by Tánczos managed to convince the Hunting Research Institute and the wildlife management specialists of Transilvania University in Brasov to jointly prepare a comprehensive study of the brown bear population in Romania. On the basis of the contract concluded in 2022, the professional work was completed by 2023: based on the standard population estimate used in the member states of the European Union, the Romanian experts determined the number of brown bears living in the country's forests to be between 7,500 and 8,000 individuals.
Based on the estimated stock, the authors of the study proposed a shooting quota of over 400 individuals per year, which does not endanger the brown bear population in Romania, and on the other hand, it would be possible to intervene effectively in critical zones.
The draft law also provides for the distribution of the number of units authorized for launch: they primarily intervene where there are the biggest problems.
Where bear attacks occur but are not reported, they are not included in the official register,
therefore, the former Minister of Environmental Protection encourages everyone to immediately report damage or bear attacks to the mayor's office so that the numbers are included in the national statistics.
"The reintroduction of bear hunting means that the big game that can be shot can be sold by the hunting association. I can recommend to hunting associations that everyone stop illegal and unofficial sales. The bear hunting must also be carried out in a transparent manner, legally documented and invoiced, so that no accusations can be made against the association", emphasized the Hargita County politician of the RMDSZ.
According to Tánczos, the law brings back stock regulation by hunting companies, because it makes hunting companies interested in habitat and population protection.
When asked whether the EU institutions can get involved in the re-introduction of bear hunting, if green organizations denounce the Romanian government in Brussels, Barna Tánczos made it clear that according to EU standards, the regulation of the bear population is the competence of the member states, as the EU Commissioner has said several times.
The prerequisite for the re-introduction of bear hunting must be based on a scientific study estimating the size of the herd, which Romania has and which EU experts also accept.
According to Barna Tánczos, the publication of this year's prevention quota will probably be postponed to next year due to the delay in the adoption of the law, but he is convinced that the early start of professional wildlife management and its persistent continuation for many years will bring results. In this way, the tragedy that happened on the hiking trail in the Bucsecs Mountains, during which a 19-year-old girl was mauled to death by a bear, will eventually be avoided.
