Census shows Romania’s brown bear population higher than estimated

A new census taken in Romania says there are up to 13,000 bears living in the country, a much higher figure than the 8,000 previously estimated.

The study, conducted by Romania’s Forestry Research Institute, did however raise some scepticism among experts, who criticised the methods of data collection.

“The samples were collected from 2022 until the end of last year. Essentially over a period of three years, whereas normally a genetic study is conducted by collecting samples over a very short period,” Cristian Papp, an environmental expert at the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) said.

The new figures are taken from a genetic census done in 25 counties in the Carpathian mountains, using more than 24,000 samples, including faeces and hair.

Previously, bear prints were counted to give an estimate of the population.

Ancuta Fedorca, representative of the research institute, said the delay was due to “the large number of samples we worked with, the analyses we had to carry out in the laboratory and the human resources available.”

Romania’s Minister of the Environment, Mircea Fechet, said he plans to request the European Commission to lift the brown bear’s protected status.

“We are obliged to intervene. The specialists also say that the optimal bear population is around 4,000,” he said.

Activists have slammed Romania’s government for increasingly allowing trophy hunting in recent years. Last year, the quota for bears that were allowed to be hunted was raised to 426, even though the European Commission forbids this.

Fechet said that measures are needed to make it easier to prevent bears reaching communities and putting lives of people in danger.