Slovakia bear attacks: Town declares state of emergency as girl, 10, becomes latest to be attacked by rampaging beast – as new video shows animal enjoying a swim with patrols ordered to ‘eliminate it’ on sight
A Slovak town has declared a state of emergency after a 10-year-old girl became the latest victim in a wave of bear attacks – with patrols ordered to ‘eliminate’ the rampaging beast on the spot.
In the latest bear attack on Sunday, which took place in the town of Liptovsky Mikulas, a 49-year-old woman suffered a shoulder injury and a 72-year-old man suffered a cut on his head.
A 10-year-old girl and two more adults suffered scrapes and bruises, authorities said, while a couple pushing their child in a buggy were “lucky to escape unscathed.”
Officials have now declared a state of emergency.
Residents have been asked not to leave their homes, especially in the early and late hours, when animal hunters arrived in the city to search for the bear.
New footage of Sunday’s bear attack in Liptovsky Mikulas, Slovakia shows the huge beast leaping through the streets
The Slovak city has now declared a state of emergency as officials say: ‘We cannot allow a bear to attack five people in the center in broad daylight’
Liptovsky Mikulas spokeswoman Viktoria Capcikova told AFP: ‘The bear spent about 20 minutes in the city center, attacked five people and retreated into the forest.
“They have at their disposal a drone with thermal vision, night vision, camera traps and service weapons,” she added.
Six patrol groups, consisting of hunters, police officers and wildlife experts, tried to locate the animal in the city.
“The bear has been pushed by rescue and security forces into uninhabited areas, where emergency teams have been tasked to eliminate it,” the town hall said in a Facebook post.
“Hunters will patrol the risk area, police patrols have been reinforced and brown bear emergency teams from across the country have been sent to our city and surrounding areas. A thermal imaging drone is also used.
‘We are a city among the mountains, but a city nonetheless. We cannot allow a bear to attack five people downtown in broad daylight.”
New footage of the bear shows it running through the streets of the Slovakian city before heading to a body of water for a swim.
It comes just a day after a woman called Tatiana, 31, died after she and her friend were attacked by a brown bear in Slovakia.
The woman, from Belarus, was walking with a male companion in the Low Tatra Mountains on Friday evening when they were chased by the predator.
According to the 29-year-old man, he and the woman fled in different directions while in the depths of the dense forest.
The woman’s body was discovered by the Slovak Mountain Rescue Service on Friday evening, while the bear lingered nearby.
According to local reports, the bear was quickly scared off by the sounds of the rescue team’s gunshots.
According to the BBC, it was unclear whether the woman died during her attempt to escape or was killed by the bear.
Slovak authorities have reassured that if she were mauled to death by the brown bear, they would reveal that information publicly.
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 died during her attempt to escape or was killed by the bear
The bear was spotted as it made its way through the Slovakian city and later enjoyed a dip in the water during its violent rampage
Bears are common in many parts of Eastern Europe, including the areas around the Carpathians, which stretch from Romania to Poland and pass through Slovakia.
Researchers have estimated that there are approximately 1,275 bears in Slovakia.
There have been several bear attacks in Slovakia in recent years, including a fatal attack in 2021 – at the time reportedly the first in Slovakia in a century.
The body of a 57-year-old man was found on June 14 in the Banskô Valley in the Liptov region.
He was found in the woods above the village of Liptovská Lúžna, with his head, hip and neck lacerated.
Fresh bear prints were found at the site.
The Slovak Environment Ministry published guidelines for the protective shooting of brown bears earlier this month, allowing special teams to shoot any bear that poses a threat to humans.
Environment Minister Tomas Taraba on Friday blamed NGOs and the Constitutional Court for the death of the Belarusian woman who was chased off a cliff.
‘According to a ruling by the Constitutional Court, the large-scale shooting of bears is not permitted. That is why I congratulate the Constitutional Court. I hope you are satisfied with your work, this is also your fault,” he told reporters after the attack.
On Friday, the ministry also said it would jointly submit a proposal with Romania for the EU to reclassify the bear into a lower category of protected wildlife, which would allow more aggressive control of the bear population.