The status of hunting of brown bears in Europe: is it good or bad for bears?

Abstract

To evaluate the status of hunting of brown bears in Europe, we surveyed members of the European Brown Bear Expert Team, representing 24 countries and 11 bear populations in Europe, including the European part of Russia. Surprisingly, 17 countries have no clear population goal. Bears are hunted in 12 countries (7 populations), but in 4 of these countries there is currently and officially no active hunting (Bulgaria, Montenegro, Slovakia, and Romania). Countries allowing hunting have 600 to 6500 bears, except Norway, with about 138 bears and Russia with more bears than all other countries together. The Alpine, Apennine, Pyrenees and Cantabrian populations are totally protected from hunting and are the smallest and most endangered. Segments of the populations that are large and in favorable conservation status are hunted in some of range countries and fully protected in others. For example, Dinara-Pindos bears are hunted or listed as game in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, but not in Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Albania, or Greece. Carpathian bears are game species in Romania and Slovakia, but not in Poland, Ukraine, or Serbia. Intervention removal (lethal or to captivity) is conducted or perceived as a management tool in 14 countries, ranging from 0-140 bears annually per country (latter number in Romania). Twelve of those countries have a protocol for removals, but only 9 country experts believe that the removal is selective to the problem individual. About half of the experts believe that removals help to reduce damages (12) and increase public acceptance (15), but only 7 believe that it helps to reach the population goals (if any). For European Union members, removal of bears must be cleared through derogation of strict protection by the Habitats Directive. Of the 12 countries that hunt bears, 8 are EU members and 4 are not.