Slovak authorities announced on Wednesday that it was indeed a bear that had killed a 57-year-old man, whose shredded body was found two days ago, reviving the debate on the ban on hunting the animal.
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"
This is the first known case of a fatal bear encounter in the history of
modern
Slovakia,
" Marina Debnarova of the state forestry agency Lesy SR told AFP. The shredded body of a walker was discovered Monday, surrounded by bear tracks, in the Bansko valley, 250 km from Bratislava. "
The man was bitten on the head and the neck and an autopsy confirmed that he had indeed died of the wounds which had been inflicted on him by a bear
", underlined Marina Debnarova.
The accident has aroused the ire of hunters, who are demanding the repeal of the ban on bear hunting in the country. “
We have done everything possible to protect the bears. Now it is high time that we protect people,
”said the head of the Slovak Hunters' Association, Imrich Suba. According to him, the brown bear population in Slovakia, which had fallen to 30 individuals in the 1920s, now exceeds 2,700, a figure in line with that of the forest agency.