Radio România Internațional

Tag: bears

  • July 12, 2024 UPDATE

    July 12, 2024 UPDATE

    WEATHER A code orange alert for extremely hot weather has been issued for Romania’s central, northern and south-eastern regions on Saturday and Sunday whereas the rest of the territory remains under a code red alert. This has been the most significant extreme-weather alert in Romania, where highs are expected to range between 37 and 41 degrees Celsius. The noon reading in Bucharest is expected to stay around 40 degrees. Local and national authorities have been making efforts to diminish the effects of the heatwave that has engulfed Romania. First aid points have been set up in towns and cities across the country in order to help the citizens affected by the extreme heat. The circulation of heavy vehicles has been restricted on motorways in the 28 counties that are presently facing extremely hot weather.

     

    DECREE The Romanian government had to amend an emergency decree on drug testing of drivers amid rising pressure from civil society. Unless the lab tests of biological samples are ready within 72 hours, drivers can have their licenses back. According to the authorities, all drivers are to take a drug test if road traffic agents have found illegal substances in their vehicle or in their possession. Should final lab tests turn positive, drivers will lose their licenses again and will bear the full consequences of the law.

     

    BEARS The Chamber of Deputies is to convene in an emergency session next week to endorse a number of legislative amendments regarding the bear population of Romania. According to one such proposal, some 500 bears that endanger human lives are expected to be shot. Romanian forests are home to some 8,000 bears, although their natural habitat can sustain only half this figure, former Environment Minister Tánczos Barna told Radio Romania. The rise in bear population and their ever-growing presence close to human settlements were submitted to public debate again after a young girl was tragically killed a couple of days ago in a popular hiking trail.

     

    WAGES The net average wages in Romania dropped to 1,025 Euros in May, roughly 10 Euros less compared to April, the National Institute for Statistics says. The gross average wage stood at 1,671 EUROS, 35 EUROS less than in April 2024. The highest average wages have been reported in the IT sector, including the provision of IT services – 2,250 EUROS, while the lowest average wages (550 Euros) have been reported in the clothing manufacturing industry.

    (bill)

  • Romania’s national riches

    Romania’s national riches


    The Romanian forests for many centuries now, have been a safe and most welcoming haven for the brown bears. According to World
    Wild Fund Romania, around 18,000 specimens can still be found in Europe; more
    than 8,000 of them live in the Carpathian Mountains, while 6,000 can still be
    found on today’s territory of Romania. It is the largest brown bear population
    in Europe. World Wild Fund Romania’s Livia Cimpoeru is the organization’s PR
    expert, specializing in large carnivores. Livia Cimpoeru:


    The bear is one of Romania’s natural
    riches. That is something we cannot ignore and I think everyone agrees to the fact
    that these natural riches need to be protected, because they can become extinct
    and we somehow must take the responsibility for our actions, as what we consume
    or what we do affects the well-being and the viability of such natural
    resources.


    The transport infrastructure, the urban one or the one
    in the rural regions, has developed sensibly in recent years. The natural
    resources, such as the mushrooms or the forest fruit have been overexploited:
    no wonder then that the omnivore bear has been drawn to the areas where food was
    easy to grab, that is to the areas populated by humans. Accordingly, some of
    the bears become a threat to the community; many people think they should be
    killed. But that is preposterous… according to Livia Cimpoeru.
    World Wild Fund Romania’s philosophy to that effect says that
    striking a balance between man and animal is perfectly possible. Livia Cimpoeru:


    Such a balance could be provided only
    when we are capable of understanding, as a nation, as a people inhabiting this
    territory which has been blessed thanks to its extraordinary biodiversity, we
    are the only ones, let me just say that once again, we are the only ones who
    can protect such riches. As long as we lay the blame entirely on the bear or
    the wolf or on other animals, for the human being-fauna conflict, we’re not
    getting anywhere. The bear is a wild animal, he cannot tell the good from the
    bad, so he cannot take decisions, he cannot initiate all sorts of policies and
    suchlike. WE are the thinking species, the ones capable of being intelligent in
    tackling such, how shall I put it, inconveniences or conflicts, so that solutions
    can be found. Our activities have an obvious impact on the bears and the
    overwhelming majority of the man-bear conflict are caused by the man.


    The European Union’s Habitats Directive protects the
    bears, which are included on the list of protected animals that cannot be
    hunted down for pleasure purposes or for trophy hunting, as they say. However,
    in some of the Union’s countries, Romania included, hunting aficionados resort
    to the Directive’s Article 16 which stipulates several waivers regarding the
    hunting of a limited number of specimens, mainly of those that are dangerous to
    humans.


    Arthur, arguably the king of bears in Romania, has
    recently been shot. The news of the killing of an animal whose dimensions and demeanor were
    impressive has become viral across the planet. According to many people, in
    Romania, the faulty way in which the national authorities protect those mammals
    at the farther end of the trophic chain has yet again resurfaced as a problem
    that still needs to be solved. Actually, Arthur may have been shot down during
    a trophy-hunting party. A waiver was allegedly issued, for the killing of a
    different specimen that did a lot of damage to human households. Such practices
    must become past history…but what needs to be done for that? World Wide Fund
    Romania’s Livia Cimpoeru:


    We, ever since 2009 and all throughout
    the following years, have called for an improvement in the legislation whereby
    such waivers are issued for the relocation and the harvesting (it is the technical
    word used when bears are shot) ʺas ever since such waiver executive orders have
    been issued, beginning 2017, if I’m not mistaken, orders did not specify what
    would become of the bear carcasses, who was in involved in the process of
    harvesting or relocation, what the destination was or who the end beneficiary was, of those shot animals. In
    2019, we officially demanded that, in the action of harvesting no people
    should be involved other than the technical staff, so that suspicions of
    harvesting being a trophy hunting in disguise may not exist. And then again, we
    also demanded that those problem-specimens be branded and actively monitor so
    that no suspicion whatsoever may exist, related to the extraction of the
    troubleshooter specimen. And Arthur is a blatant case in point. Again, we don’t
    understand why, for so many years now, rapid intervention teams have not been
    set up, for those areas where the bear population is obviously significant, As
    we speak, we do not have a real monitoring of the bear population in Romania,
    based on scientific research, we do not even have a monitoring of the habituated
    bear population, which, in our jargon, designates the bears that, because of
    human negligence, have associated the human beings with their source of food,
    and in time, they repeatedly worked their way through to the areas inhabited by
    humans.

    Meanwhile, against the backdrop of the Arthur scandal,
    the Environment Ministry in Bucharest has made public the fact that the
    legislation has been changed, focusing on the shooting of bears posing a threat
    for the communities. According to the previous legislation, a 60-day grace
    period was officially allowed, from the issuing of the papers endorsing the
    harvesting to its implementation. Moreover, the legislation did not clearly
    stipulate who was officially allowed to shoot the animal. According to the
    recently-changed legislation, no more than 15 days are allowed for the
    extraction of the dangerous specimens, while that can only be done by the
    technical staff of the association for which the waiver was issued. However,
    Livia Cimpoeru says, the decision is welcome, but insufficient. Livia Cimpoeru:

    Apart from such measures, which are
    merely face-saving, I daresay, hastily taken to cool down the public opinion,
    other measures need to be taken so that, longer term, we can have a harmonious co-habitation with the bear. And
    by that I also mean the implementation action, the financial support for
    farmers or households in the bear-populated areas, so that those people could
    afford buying electric fences, watchdogs, capable of protecting their
    livestock, their households and suchlike. The pack of measures was made public
    last year by the former minister Costel Alexe, and we were extremely happy when
    he announced the ministry would launch a financing program for such prevention
    measures, but that never happened and we don’t understand why.


    Also according to World Wild Fund Romania, the
    Ministry of the Environment has sufficient data they could start from, in a bid
    to elaborate maps of the risk areas that can be made available to specialists,
    local administrations and the lay public, so that these entities can have a
    clear image of the areas with the most serious problems. World Wild Fund Romania is also part of an international
    project Euro Large Carnivores, a project with European funding, whereby the
    co-habitation can be improved, between human beings and animals, through cross-border cooperation and communication.


  • The bear sanctuary in Zarnesti

    The bear sanctuary in Zarnesti

    Zarnesti is a
    town in Brasov County. On the outskirts of the town you can find the world’s
    largest bear sanctuary. It was officially inaugurated in 2008, by the Millions
    of Friends Association and the World Association for the Protection of Animals.
    More than 100 bears found their peace here; they had been saved from a cruel
    and abusive life in captivity. Each of the bears has their own story. Some of
    them were saved from being kept in suffocating cages, being a mere reason for
    people to have fun in restaurants, hotels, factories, gas stations, circuses or
    even monasteries. Others were brought over from zoos around the country that
    couldn’t afford offering bears normal living conditions, or from illegal bear
    owners. Here in Zarnesti the bear sanctuary has a surface area of 70 hectares
    of forest and grazing grounds. Water tanks, trees for climbing, feeding areas
    and individual shelters have been made available on the premises. In fact, the
    bear sanctuary was born from the grief and pain caused by the death of a
    she-bear, Maya, which had been kept in captivity for the amusement of tourists.
    Maya was saved by the president of the Millions of Friends Association,
    Cristina Lapis, who is also the founder of the sanctuary.

    Cristina Lapis:



    It has been 15 years since the sanctuary was founded and it would not have come
    into being had the she-bear Maya not died in my arms, having maimed herself
    eating her front paws. That she-bear was illegally kept in a cage nearby Bran
    Castle at a guesthouse, allegedly used as an attraction point for the potential
    clients. All foreign tourists who travelled to Romanian and who passed by that
    guesthouse could see for themselves the bear’s gruesome facilities and
    announced the World Animal Protection Association. I was contacted by that foundation;
    they asked me to go check if the living conditions of the bears were that
    serious. There were also other bears from Poiana Brasov, nearby the Poiana
    Ursului hotel, who were tortured, which prompted me to vow that someday, those
    bears would be free again. I began by asking what the prospective solutions
    were, for the bears, I had the support of the authorities telling me to rest
    assured that, if I created a sanctuary for those bears who had been kept in
    improper conditions for a wild animal, I would get all the support I needed.
    And that’s how the adventure started. Back then it didn’t even cross my mind we
    would have as many as 106 bears, which is the number of bears we have at the
    moment. And that is how Romania can now boast the biggest brown bears
    sanctuary. That is how, in 2016, Romania had the world’s most ethical
    sanctuary, second-placed being a gorillas sanctuary, while the third largest
    such area was an elephants sanctuary.


    The bears in
    Zarnesti can never be released in the wilderness since they can no longer adapt
    to wildlife. Many of them cannot stand seeing or hearing human beings, as they
    had been much too traumatized by humans.


    Cristina Lapis:


    In recent years, we took the bears
    that were confiscated by the National Environment Guard, they were bears kept
    at the bread Factory, at the uranium Factory, at monasteries, they were bears
    kept near the petrol pump. These places are absolutely incredible for an animal
    to be kept in. They were kept there because the Romanian made a habit of that, in
    the past the Romanians used to be bear leaders but also circus performers, they
    were bear tamers, taking them to the market towns, while towards the end of her
    or his life, the bear was a trophy but also a money-making device. A bear that
    was shot in his cage in Poiana Brasov was a bear with a net worth standing at
    around 10,000 – 15,000 Euro. The bear is the king of the Carpathian forests and
    it is a pity to put them in a cage and mock them. It is one of Romania’s great
    treasures, and it must be protected. Not only because it is a richness of our
    forests, but also because there is the International Convention in Berne
    Romania signed and ratified through a law, officially acknowledging the fact
    that the brown bear was a protected animal. Unfortunately, we were unable to
    gather all the bears. In Romania, there are around 10 or 15 bears that are kept
    in the same conditions. For instance, at a guesthouse in Straja, this year there
    will be 20 years since a bear has been kept in a cave. 20 years! One year after
    the next the bear gets a birthday cake and is given beer to drink. The footage
    has been posted on YouTube and the whole world can see we keep a bear near a
    guesthouse to draw clients to that guesthouse. For 10 years we have been trying
    to persuade the authorities to release it and take it to a sanctuary, to a zoo,
    to a proper place…


    Romanian boasts Europe’s largest population of bears;
    they prefer vast and thick forests, less frequented by the man. Unfortunately,
    the increased pressure the forests have been under has lead to a great many
    incidents. Some bears climb down to households, doing a lot of damage.

    Cristina Lapis:


    As we speak, in our forests, or at
    least what has been left of them, there is no forest fruit, there are no
    mushrooms left, no nothing, as everything is taken away. So bears, no longer
    having a source of food, come and look for it wherever they can smell it. And
    if guesthouses, houses and villas are being built in forests, where everybody
    can have a barbecue, we almost invite them over, so little wonder then that
    they come. Of course the hungry bears are on the lookout for food. They do not
    come to town because they want to take a walk around, it’s us that have been
    trespassing and invading them! We took their lands away from them, we do not
    provide the food they need, and the solution is a complex one. Shooting them is
    not a solution either. Hotels, guesthouses, houses that are built along the
    forest tree line should have protection, they should have an electric fence,
    and the bear will stop there. In the towns and villages lying at the forest tree
    line, people should grow apple trees and pear trees, as well as corn, and the
    bear, searching for food, will stop there. Hunters’ associations and the
    forestry authorities should provide bears with food during spring, just as they
    used to do in the past.


    The bears Sanctuary in Zarnesti will soon reach the maximum
    of its housing capacity, so the Environment Ministry announced it would approve
    the building of a new sanctuary for bears. Also, beginning this year, it has
    been officially decided that the Romanians living in areas populated by bears
    should receive subsidies for the purchase of electric fences, capable of
    protecting their households. The authorities have also pledged they would
    finance a research study on the population of bears, carried with the
    state-of-the-art technology, so that we may exactly know the number of brown
    bear specimens living on Romanian territory.





  • Protected wildlife – in the spotlight

    Protected wildlife – in the spotlight


    With 6,300 individuals, Romania has the biggest bear population in Europe, according to the World Wide Fund. The NGO cautions, however, that increasing pressure on forests, which are bears main habitat, poses a threat to this species, with the biggest danger being the fragmentation of habitats following the development of transport infrastructure, the creation of ski tracks and the expansion of built areas.



    News reports about car accidents involving bears are increasingly frequent in Romania. Last Saturday, for example, a bear was hit by a car in Harghita county, in the centre, and suffered for a few hours before being put to sleep. A similar case was reported on Monday in Mures county, also in the centre. To improve intervention in such cases, the environment ministry has come up with a series of measures following a meeting with officials from the interior ministry and the National Sanitary Veterinary Authority.



    The environment minister Costel Alexe says the legislation in force would have allowed the local authorities to sedate the bear and treat it. Costel Alexe:



    “Im very much concerned about citizens safety, but I also want these animals to enjoy good living conditions in forests and not be forced to come to the side of the road or enter peoples gardens in search of food. I understand that food stopped being supplied to them in forests in 2016. I promise you that this week I will have talks on this matter with all those involved and will come back with a statement.”



    At the same time, Cristian Papp, who coordinates the protected species and areas programme for World Wide Fund Romania, has explained that providing food for bears in forests should only be a temporary measure, because if used for longer periods it would turn bears into semi-domestic animals. The NGO he works for advocates the creation of environmental corridors. Cristian Papp explains:



    “We have drafted this year sustainable transport guidelines that can be used by the authorities, especially the transport and environment ministries, to find the best solutions so that we can develop the much desired infrastructure while maintaining intact the habitats of big carnivores.”



    Cristian Papp says the guidelines in question contain some clear measures to avoid the increasingly frequent cases of bears entering motorways. They help the authorities identify exactly those critical areas where tunnels need to be built for the bears to be able to cross the motorways.




  • Orphan Bear Rehabilitation Center

    Orphan Bear Rehabilitation Center

    Although the bear is protected at national and European level, poaching and too many people wondering through the woods have increased the number of orphan bears. Especially in the hibernation periods, female bears are scared by people who come too close to their dens and run, leaving their cubs alone. Also, the high value of bear trophies, which cost between 4,000 and 15,000 Euro, puts bears in danger. Sometimes, female bears are shot, and their cubs, too young to face life in the wilderness, are exposed to lots of dangers.



    Leo Bereczky is the one who set up the centre, out of passion for Romania’s most emblematic species: “The idea came to me out of necessity, as in Romania, in the Carpathian Mountains in particular, many bear cubs are left orphans because people have invaded their habitats and are no longer interacting with nature properly. It was a happy encounter between the ‘Vier Pfoten’ Foundation, which funded the project, and our wish to do something for these bear cubs. Now we have 10 cubs at the centre and we are proud that, until now, we have managed to rehabilitate and reintegrate into nature more than 100 cubs. The cubs get to our centre following requests by the authorities responsible for the management of this species and sometimes we are notified by the police. So, if somebody finds a bear cub, they inform the local authorities, and we are asked by the authorities to go and pick it up.”



    The bear cub orphanage is situated in an isolated mountain area, stretching across 20 hectares. The principle on the basis of which it operates is as little interaction with humans as possible, for the animals to be able to perfectly reintegrate into nature.



    Leo Bereczky: “Rehabilitation means replicating as much as possible the conditions in real nature. The cubs are kept in special enclosures where the environment is completely natural, and where they can develop their natural instincts. It’s good to know that a cub is born with all the natural instincts needed for its survival, that is the instinct to escape, find refuge in a tree in case of danger or find food. So the cub is born with all these instincts and it does not learn the things I just mentioned from the mother. This makes possible its rehabilitation, the manner of raising it so that it can still be a genuinely wild animal. We are trying to take care of the cubs in these reserves that can be extended, if needed, depending on their needs. At this time of the year, additional food is placed in the reserve for the cubs, but in a manner that makes it impossible for them to associate the source of food with the presence of people. That means they find the food that we provide just as they would find it in nature, which allows them to develop as normal bears. It’s just their mum that’s missing, but we try to make up for it. After about one year and a half, one of the reserve’s gates is left open and the little bears are allowed to explore the centre’s surroundings. They tend to explore more as the amount of additional food in the reserve is smaller. So we push them into exploring as much as possible, until they become free bears able to live in the wild all by themselves. “



    There is a big number of orphan cubs in the Carpathian region every year. Unfortunately, the Harghita Centre for Bear Cubs Rehabilitation risks being closed down, as there are no more funds to support it. Under these circumstances, the bear cubs’ future is uncertain. World Wildlife Fund Romania in running a fund raising campaign, between September 7th and October 15th. The cost of food for one cub stands at 4 thousand dollars per year. This may seem a big amount, but anyone can help save a cub by offering 5 dollars a month, that will cover its food for one day, by making a donation on wwf.ro/orfelinat. Besides food and protection, the shelter is a safe environment where veterinarian care is also provided. Moreover, the collected money will allow Leo Bereczky to develop the centre so that as many cubs as possible be rescued and then reintegrated into the wild.



    Leo Bereczky: “We are trying to find donors able to further develop this project. This is a necessary project and we cannot afford to drop it, as this would mean that some cubs stand no chance of survival or they may end up in zoos or illegal shelters. A cub’s rehabilitation costs between 3,500 and 4,500 euros per year, so the project needs at least 50 thousand euros per year to survive.”



    There are several thousand bears living in Romania at present, accounting for around 40% of Europe’s total bear population. (Edited by D. Vijeu)