The Râșnov City Hall has installed the first 800 meters of electric fence to prevent bears from entering inhabited areas and garbage dumps.
The measure was taken to protect households located in the immediate vicinity of the forest.
"Following increasingly frequent calls to 112 regarding the presence of bears in the Râșnov city area, the authorities decided to install electric fences in the area behind the houses of the residents of Râșnov, which have the forest in the immediate vicinity," said the spokesperson of the Râșnov City Hall, Răzvan Iancu, quoted by radiobrasovfm.ro.
In the following period, another 5,200 meters of electric fence will be installed, in collaboration with the Râșnov Forestry Department.
Sanctions for those who feed the bears
The Minister of Environment, Diana Buzoianu, stated that Romania is facing an alarming situation regarding the bear population, and the solutions must be adapted to each situation. She announced a legislative project that will explicitly penalize feeding bears, with drastic fines.
- One of the cubs of the she-bear shot on the Transfăgărășan saved and taken to the center in Zărnești
"If you feed them once, you practically condemn them to death, because they lose their fear of humans," Buzoianu said on Wednesday at RFI Romania, referring specifically to the bears in the Transfăgărășan area.
She emphasized that in the case of local communities attacked by bears, the priority solutions are electric fences and other protection systems, for which the state should provide funding.
Romania is estimated to have between 10,000 and 12,000 bears, but it can optimally manage only 3,500 - 4,000 individuals, according to the Minister of Environment.