Bear Photo: (Photo by Jessica Weiller on Unsplash)
“For thousands of years people have lived with carnivores here, and there has never been a war like you can see now in parts of Romania. We don’t have true wilderness here – not like in Alaska or Canada - so we need to find a way to live with bears that is acceptable to people in the modern day." Silviu Chiriac quoted in The Guardian
From Little Ted to Paddington, bears are a wild creature that we humans have turned all soft, cute and cuddly.
But bears aren't nearly so popular in parts of rural Romania. There the local media's awash with stories of brown bear attacks, bears are getting poisoned and killed, and local politicians are blaming it all on a government hunting ban imposed about a year ago.
Luke Dale-Harris has visited the area to see how the hunting ban has influenced bear populations and their interactions with humans.
