Romania Considering Bear Cull

Romania is the only European country experiencing a population growth of bears. Supposedly, there's too many now and they are coming into contact with humans too often.

Too many bears in Romania? Get rid of them!!!

Recently, the bear crisis {in Romania} has provoked a fierce debate over how best to deal with the population growth. Biologists estimate that the natural bear population should be not much more than 4,000; most agree that the population shouldn't grow above its current levels.

This has led a number of conservationists, including members of Mr. Negus's centre {Brasov-based Forest Research Institute}, to call for a bear cull, similar to the government-sanctioned wildlife culls that Canadian governments regularly authorize to keep predator populations down to acceptable numbers.

While that idea has received strong backing from people and local governments in Transylvania, it has outraged some ecological and animal-rights groups, which point to the extinction of bears in the rest of Europe.

Photo by londonconstant.