Two bear cubs killed in Estonia after returning to homes
Two bear cubs were killed in Estonia’s Tartu County on Sunday after repeatedly returning to residential buildings following their relocation. ERR News reports, citing Estonia’s Environmental Board.
The agency said the animals had lost behavior typical of their species: they damaged yards, entered outbuildings, and attempts to return them to the wild were unsuccessful. The cubs were recognized as helpless animals that were no longer able to survive independently in their natural environment.
The bear cubs had been coming to the village since June
Tanel Türna, head of the Environmental Board’s hunting and aquatic fauna department, said that four young bears came to the village of Konnu in Kastre municipality in early June. According to him, feeding wild animals may have been a likely reason why they lost their fear of people.
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Two of the cubs later stopped appearing in the settlement. The other two animals were marked with ear tags and fitted with GPS trackers, but they did not return to behavior typical of bears. These cubs also damaged beehives near a residential building and repeatedly entered outbuildings.
No places for keeping them were found
According to Türna, the Environmental Board contacted zoos and wildlife parks about the possibility of accommodating the cubs, but no institution had available space. The decision to kill the animals was made as a last resort.
The Environmental Board urged people not to seek contact with wild animals and not to feed them. The agency stressed that the cubs, which are relatively small now, will be significantly larger next year and may pose a serious danger if they continue seeking proximity to people. Estonia is estimated to be home to about 1,100 brown bears.
