A brown bear attacked and injured a forest ranger and a hunter in Slovakia. A spokeswoman for the State Conservation Agency (SOP) told the TASR news agency on Monday night. The two men followed the trail of a wild boar shot in a wooded area near the village of Visnove, close to Slovakia’s regional capital Zilina. Apparently, they startled the bear, who was probably resting in the bush.
The bear therefore first attacked the forester and then the hunter when he shot the bear. The two men were injured and required hospital treatment, but their injuries were not life-threatening, the spokeswoman said. The police, nature conservation and the municipal administration of Visnove appealed to the population to be more careful and recommended avoiding the forest area if possible. The bear was likely injured by the hunter’s shot and may now react even more aggressively.
According to studies by the State Agency for Nature Conservation in cooperation with scientists from the Charles University in Prague, there are around 1,100 to 1,200 free-ranging bears in Slovakia. They usually avoid people if they notice them in time. In the event of a surprise encounter or if the bears believe that their cubs are threatened, they may also attack.