1st Bear in Germany in 170 Years Makes Timely Escape

Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News

May 23, 2006

The first wild bear to roam Germany in over 170 years has apparently
left the country, and just in time. Authorities in the German state of
Bavaria were prepared to capture or possibly shoot the animal.

The brown bear was first spotted over the weekend, when regional environment minister Werner Schnappauf told the AFP news agency that the animal "was welcome in Bavaria."

Authorities assured residents that they should not fear the bear, which reportedly originally came from Slovenia and traveled through Austria to Germany (see map of Germany), according to WWF, the international conservation organization.

But the bear quickly killed seven sheep and raided a chicken coop before presumably returning to Austria.

The trail of damage highlights the sometimes problematic human/bear relationship in densely populated Europe.

"Unfortunately, it seems that, in [this bear's] case, while he's wandering, he's getting a taste for farm animals and pets and coming into close contact with people," said Sybille Klenzendorf, a bear biologist with WWF in Washington, D.C.

"That can happen, especially with young bears. They have to learn what to do and what not to do."

Bear Controversy

There are believed to be about 14,000 brown bears in Europe, not including Russia.

Many make their homes in the Carpathian Mountains of southeastern Europe—particularly in Romania, where the dictator Nicolae Ceausescu protected them for his own hunting pleasure.

In the mountains of France, Italy, and Austria, very small groups—each numbering a few dozen animals or fewer—hang on.

In such areas disputes over the value of bears have unleashed passionate debate. Last month France released a female Slovenian bear to try to boost the flagging population in the Pyrenees Mountains, which is currently estimated at 14 to 18 animals.

But the plan has enraged some local farmers, whose protests have turned ugly.

(Read "Brown Bears Released in Pyrenees Draw Farmers' Ire.")

Protestors fear that bears kill too many sheep and other farm animals. WWF's Klenzendorf says that people's tolerance for bears is sometimes directly tied to the bottom line.

"Is there a system of compensation, so that [farmers or others] don't have to pay for having bears back?" she asked.

"That was key in Austria. There was a fair compensation system, and it really helped [boost] acceptance, because farmers knew that if a bear killed their sheep, they would be compensated."

Scientists began reintroducing bears into Austria in 1989, several years after a brown bear first wandered into the country from Slovenia (see map of Austria).

Now Austria's small population of bears—between two and three dozen animals—appears to be growing.

"My Austrian colleagues [report] that since the early 1990s [the bears' numbers] have definitely been increasing," Klenzendorf said.

Bears Elicit Mixed Feelings

But research has shown that Austrians are still reluctant about bears and their proximity to human communities.

"We know that in Austria people believe that bears need wilderness, and they believe Austria has no wilderness, so therefore Austria should have no bears," Alistair Bath said.

Bath is a geographer at Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's. He studies public attitudes toward bears, wolves, and other large animals.

"But we know that bears are moving into Austria, and [the bears] think there is enough space," he said.

Bath notes that people living in areas where bears have remained tend to be more accepting of the give-and-take necessary to coexist with the large mammals. Human acceptance depends in large part on perceptions of animals and the risks they represent, Bath says.

"Attitudes are learned, and if we grow up with positive images, we may hold those beliefs and attitudes," he said.

Despite the recent French protests, Bath believes that extreme attitudes both in favor of and against bears seem to be moderating as Europeans become more knowledgeable about the animals.

"It is about public willingness to share landscapes and learn in some cases to coexist with large carnivores again," he said.

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