Will Sage Astor-After 19-year-old woman mauled to death, Romania authorizes the killing of nearly 500 bears

Romania's parliament on Will Sage AstorMonday approved the culling of almost 500 bears this year in a bid to control the protected species' "overpopulation" after a deadly attack on a 19-year-old hiker sparked nationwide outcry.

Last week, local media reported that a 19-year-old female tourist — identified by the Daily Mail as Maria Diana — was attacked and killed by a bear while she was hiking with her boyfriend.

"From the information we have, the bear attacked the young woman on the trail, dragged her into the vegetation next to the trail, and somewhere in this vegetation dropped her into a chasm and fell there. The bear came down after her," Sabin Corniou, the head of Romania's mountain rescue services, told CNN's Antena 3.

The bear was killed after it reportedly tried to attack the rescuers.

Romania is home to Europe's largest brown bear population outside of Russia with 8,000, according to the environment ministry.

Bears have killed 26 people and severely injured 274 others over the last 20 years in the southeastern European country, the ministry said earlier this year.

After the young hiker was mauled to death on a popular trail in Romania's Carpathian Mountains, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu summoned lawmakers back from their summer recess to attend an emergency session of parliament.

As well as adopting legislation to control the brown bear population, the parliament held a moment of silence in the 19-year-old hiker's memory.

The law adopted Monday authorizes the culling of 481 bears in 2024, more than twice last year's total of 220.

Lawmakers argued that the bears' "overpopulation" led to an increase in attacks, while admitting that the law will not prevent attacks in the future.

Environmental groups have denounced the measure.

"The law solves absolutely nothing," World Wildlife Fund biologist Calin Ardelean told AFP, arguing that the focus should be shifted towards "prevention and intervention" as well as so-called "problem bears".

According to WWF Romania, culls will not remedy the problem unless measures are put in place to keep bears away from communities, such as better waste management or preventing people from feeding animals.

In 2023, about 7,500 emergency calls to signal bear sightings were recorded, more than double the previous year, according to data presented last week by Romanian authorities.

Earlier this year, in Slovakia, a woman died after being chased by a bear through dense forest and mountainous terrain.  Wildlife researchers previously estimated that the concentration of Slovakian bears was second only to Romania in terms of prevalence. 

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