On Friday and Saturday, the Brown Bear Intervention Team of the State Nature Conservancy (SNC SR Intervention Team) received three reports of bear attacks on humans. The first case concerned an encounter with a man and his dog near Sučany; the second case involving an injured man is currently being investigated by the members of the North team near Liptovský Hrádok, and the third case is being investigated by the SNC SR South Intervention Team in the Krupina district.
On Friday 14 July, the SNC SR Intervention Team received a report from the Slovak Police about an attack of a bear on a man on the tank road near Sučany, in the Martin district. As Marek Veverica from the SNC SR’s Intervention Team West reports: “Immediately after the report, my colleague and I went to the place and questioned the injured man, who was attacked by a bear from a ditch by the roadside while walking his dog in dense vegetation. The assaulted man fired multiple shots at the bear from a legally held gun. The man suffered no injuries.” The location was subsequently secured in cooperation with the Military Police and the bear, which had been shot, was tracked down by the SNC SR Intervention Team with hunting dogs. The dead female bear, aged approximately 18 years and weighing 110 kg, was handed over to the user of the respective hunting zone.
The second attack was reported to the Intervention Team North this morning from a location near the municipality of Liptovský Hrádok. The bear attacked a 58-year-old man in the local area known as Hrádocká hora, located between the municipalities of Liptovský Hrádok and Kráľová Lehota. The bear surprised the man while he was jogging in the early hours and seriously injured him. The man, who suffered bite injuries to his arms and legs, is currently being treated at the Hospital in Liptovský Mikuláš. The man‘s injuries are not life-threatening. The SNC SR Intervention Team is currently in the area of the attack together with the local game farmer.
Members of the SNC SR Intervention Team South are also in the field at the moment. They are investigating the circumstances of the reported attack in a location near the municipality of Drienovo, in the Krupina district. A forest worker was attacked by a bear while marking out a logging area. The man, who was not injured, fired several shots at the attacking bear in self-defence from a legally held gun.
This press release was prepared by the Department of Communication and Promotion of the State Nature Conservancy of the Slovak Republic.
