Slovakian bear hunters have vowed to tonight capture and kill the rampaging beast that has left at least five injured, but residents are begging them to let the animal live.
The town of Liptovský Mikuláš earlier declared a state of emergency after a 10-year-old girl became the latest victim in a spate of bear attacks – with patrols ordered to ‘eliminate’ the predator on sight.
Now, a bold sign has been erected by the city police that urges residents to stay out of the old road area between Iľanova and Závažná Poruba this afternoon and evening.
‘The road is temporarily closed and because of bear hunting there is a high risk to life,’ the sign reads.
The capture of the bear will be carried out using firearms, Liptovský Mikuláš’ official town website states.
‘In case of disobedience, people will be exposed to a high risk of endangering their lives,’ it adds.
A sign has been erected in Liptovský Mikuláš warning residents to stay out of the area as officials prepare to use firearms to capture the bear that has injured at least five in recent attacks
New footage from Sunday’s bear attack in Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia, shows the huge beast bounding through the streets
The Slovakian town have now declared a state emergency as officials say: ‘We cannot allow a bear to attack five people in the centre in broad daylight’
But although the bear has left at least five with injuries, residents have begged officials to have mercy on the animal.
Taking to Facebook, one wrote: ‘This young bear, who accidentally entered the city, is terrified because it entered an unknown area….. definitely not going back to town after this experience….. no point in eliminating a young bear from its life….. let him live for him’.
Another said: ‘I cannot understand this, that a few hundred pound bear cannot be located, put to sleep and transported to the mountains within two hours. Terrible amateurism’.
One more added: ‘There is no reason to kill the bear! He has a right to live, there are other manners to ensure safety! Killers will pay for killing, you have to remember this rule’.
The latest bear attack on Sunday, which took place in the town left a 49-year-old woman with a shoulder injury and a 72-year-old man with a gash to his head.
A 10-year-old girl and two further adults suffered scratches and bruises, authorities said, while a couple pushing their child in a buggy were ‘lucky to escape unharmed’.
Residents were asked not to leave their homes, particularly in the early and late hours, as animal hunters arrived at the town to seek out the bear.
‘The bear has been pushed into uninhabited zones by rescue and security forces where emergency teams … have orders to eliminate it,’ the town hall said in a Facebook post.
‘Hunters will patrol in the at-risk area, police patrols have been strengthened and brown bear emergency teams from all over the country have been ordered to our city and surroundings. A thermal imaging drone is also being deployed.
‘We are a town between mountains, but still a town. We cannot allow a bear to attack five people in the centre in broad daylight.’
New footage of the bear shows it bounding through the streets of the Slovakian town before heading to a body of water to take a swim.
It comes just a day after a woman named Tatiana, 31, died after she and her friend were set upon by a brown bear in Slovakia.The woman, from Belarus, had been walking with a male companion in the Low Tatras mountain range on Friday evening when they were chased by the predator.
According to the male, 29, he and the woman darted off in different directions while in the depths of the thick forest.
Sunday’s attacks come just days after a woman, 31, was chased by a bear and died in Slovakia. It remains unclear whether the woman fell to her death while trying to escape or was killed by the bear
The bear was spotted making its way through the Slovakian town and later enjoying a dip in the water during its violent rampage
The woman’s body was discovered by the Slovak Mountain Rescue Service on Friday evening, as the bear lingered nearby.
Local reports stated the bear was soon frightened off by sounds of the gun shots made by the rescue team.
According to the BBC it was unclear whether the woman fell to her death while trying to escape or was killed by the bear.
The Slovak authorities reassured that if she was mauled to death by the brown bear, they will reveal that information publicly.
Bears are common across many parts of Eastern Europe including the areas surrounding the Carpathian mountains, which stretch from Romania to Poland and pass through Slovakia.
Researchers have estimated that there are around 1,275 bears living in Slovakia.
There have been several bear attacks in Slovakia in recent years, including a fatal attack in 2021 – reported at the time to be the first in Slovakia for a century.
The body of a 57-year-old man was found in Banskô Valley in the Liptov region on June 14.
He was found in the forests above the village of Liptovská Lúžna, with his head, hip and neck mauled.
There were fresh bear prints found at the site.
The Slovak environment ministry earlier this month published guidelines on the protective shooting of brown bears, allowing special teams to shoot any bear that presents a threat to humans.
Environment Minister Tomas Taraba on Friday blamed NGOs and the constitutional court for the death of the Belarusian woman chased off a cliff.
‘According to a constitutional court ruling, shooting bears on a large scale is not allowed. So I congratulate the constitutional court. I hope you are happy with your work, this is also your doing,’ he told reporters after the attack.
Also Friday, the ministry said it would, together with Romania, submit a proposal for the EU to reclassify the bear to a lower category of protected wildlife, which would allow more aggressive control of the bear population.