{"id":5790,"date":"2025-07-08T07:03:37","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T07:03:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=5790"},"modified":"2025-07-08T07:03:37","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T07:03:37","slug":"bear-cubs-to-be-relocated-to-sanctuary-after-mother-killed-over-fatal-attack-on-romanias-transfagarasan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/?p=5790","title":{"rendered":"Bear cubs to be relocated to sanctuary after mother killed over fatal attack on Romania\u2019s Transf\u0103g\u0103r\u0103\u0219an"},"content":{"rendered":"

The three bear cubs left orphaned after their mother was shot and killed following the\u00a0deadly attack on the Transf\u0103g\u0103r\u0103\u0219an mountain road<\/a>\u00a0last week are to be taken in by a wildlife rehabilitation center in Z\u0103rne\u0219ti, Romania’s Environment Ministry announced<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The female bear attacked and killed a motorcyclist on the Transf\u0103g\u0103r\u0103\u0219an last Thursday after the man had gotten off his bike to feed and photograph the animal despite the warning signs posted along the popular tourist road. The victim’s body was recovered from a ravine, while the wild animal was later identified and shot.<\/p>\n

After the female bear was euthanized, the presence of three cubs in the area was confirmed. According to the legislation, when a female bear is removed, any orphaned cubs must be urgently relocated to specialized care facilities.<\/p>\n

The Environment Ministry stated that it had formally requested the Arge\u0219 Forest Directorate to finalize the rescue operation on July 7, stressing that the cubs’ safety and welfare must be ensured.<\/p>\n

“We welcome the willingness of the bear rehabilitation center in Z\u0103rne\u0219ti, managed by the “Millions of Friends” Association, to take in and care for the cubs. The presence of such a responsible and well-prepared partner is essential for rapid and effective interventions,” the ministry said.<\/p>\n

The Environment Ministry added that it would continue to monitor the case and called on local authorities to act promptly and in full compliance with wildlife protection laws.<\/p>\n

Bear encounters are not unusual in mountain areas of Romania, as the country is home to a large population of brown bears. In April, the Ministry of Environment shared\u00a0the preliminary results<\/a>\u00a0of a\u00a0study\u00a0estimating the brown bear population to be between 10,419 and 12,770.<\/p>\n

Last week’s incident on the Transf\u0103g\u0103r\u0103\u0219an highlights once again the real danger tourists face when ignoring official warnings to maintain a safe distance if encountering a bear, not to feed wild animals, and to refrain from taking photographs with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ion S\u0103nduloiu, head of Salvamont Arge\u0219, warned that uncontrolled interactions between tourists and wild animals, especially feeding bears, inevitably lead to tragedies. “The moment someone gives food to a bear, the bear is sentenced to death. And the bear’s death sentence can result from an incident like this. That is, either a fatal attack or an attack where it destroys a hand… these have all happened recently,” he told news channel\u00a0Digi24<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One such incident\u00a0happened in May this year,<\/a> when a foreign tourist was bitten by a bear while attempting to feed the animal near a hotel in Arefu commune, Arge\u0219 county, along Romania’s scenic Transf\u0103g\u0103r\u0103\u0219an road.<\/p>\n

Gabriel P\u0103un, founder of the environmental NGO Agent Green, said the issue was mismanagement, not overpopulation.<\/p>\n

“The recurring tragedies on the Transf\u0103g\u0103r\u0103\u0219an road are the result of multiple failures: tourists stopping to interact with wild animals, local authorities not doing enough to drive bears back into the forest, and the national government \u2013 particularly the environmental ministry \u2013 failing to properly implement the national plan for coexistence between wildlife and humans,” he stated, as quoted by the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2024,\u00a0Romania\u00a0doubled the hunting quota for the brown bear<\/a> to almost 500 following the deadly attack on a hiker in the Carpathians. After\u00a0another\u00a0severe attack in the mountain town of Predeal<\/a> in March this year, former environment minister Mircea Fechet said that the annual quota for bear culling could be revised again.<\/p>\n

However, environmental groups expressed serious concerns, arguing that hunting alone is not a sufficient solution to lower the number of bear attacks or sustainably manage the population. They have repeatedly said that the law passed last year could potentially open the door to trophy hunting, a practice that is in direct violation of EU legislation.<\/p>\n

irina.marica@romania-insider.com<\/p>\n

(Photo source:\u00a0Fernbach Antal<\/a>\/Dreamstime.com<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The three bear cubs left orphaned after their mother was shot and killed following the\u00a0deadly attack on the Transf\u0103g\u0103r\u0103\u0219an mountain road\u00a0last week are to be taken in by a wildlife rehabilitation center in Z\u0103rne\u0219ti, Romania’s Environment Ministry announced.\u00a0 The female bear attacked and killed a motorcyclist on the Transf\u0103g\u0103r\u0103\u0219an last Thursday after the man had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5790\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ofero.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}