According to the Bavarian State Office for the Environment, a bear killed sheep in the Rosenheim district. In the border region with Austria, two dead sheep and one injured sheep were found on a pasture on Wednesday, which had to be killed due to its injuries.
Based on the external injuries of the animals and the footprints found, “this incident can be assigned to a bear,” the state office said.
After the dead animals were found, a member of the Large Carnivores Network assessed the situation on site and took genetic samples. “Based on the initial documentation of the animals’ external injuries and footprints found on site, this incident can be assigned to a bear.” Further findings are expected from the analysis of the genetic tracks.
There was therefore no sighting of the bear or a direct encounter between humans and bears. According to the state office, it is in contact with the local security authorities. “According to current knowledge, the bear behaves shyly towards humans.” Farm animal owners in the border area of the district to Austria are therefore asked to bring their animals into stables at night if possible and to take herd protection measures.
In the network of large carnivores (lynx, wolf, bear), mainly volunteers work on the professional documentation of clues such as tracks or wild and livestock kills.
Paw prints were found in the snow
The Bavarian State Office for the Environment had already announced on Monday evening that paw prints from a brown bear had been discovered in the snow in the districts of Miesbach and Rosenheim last weekend near the border with Austria.
According to the authorities, the last confirmed indication of a brown bear in Bavaria was last summer. In the area between Reutte in the Austrian state of Tyrol and the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen as well as Bad Tölz and Wolfratshausen, several indications of a brown bear were confirmed.
According to the State Office for the Environment, the next bear population from Bavaria lives in Trentino, Italy, about 120 kilometers from Bavaria.
A bear killed a jogger there in April. The bear named JJ4 was captured on Tuesday night. Now she is to be put down according to the will of the authorities in Trentino. According to the provincial government, the killing was justified to “maintain public health and safety” in the mountainous and forested Trentino region. However, the administrative court in Trento temporarily blocked the decision.
A male bear named JM5, who attacked a jogger on a hiking trail a month earlier and injured his arm and head, is also scheduled to be euthanized.
Around Trentino, the bear population is estimated at around 120 animals. A meeting between Trentino MPs and Italian Environment Minister Gilberto Pichetto will be held in Rome on Friday to finalize a plan to relocate dozens of bears from Trentino. It is initially unclear where the bears are to be resettled. (AFP)
