Meat from brown bears, a species protected in the EU, could soon be available for consumption in Slovakia after the local government approved plans to sell it to the public.
Last month, Slovakia's cabinet approved a plan to cull about a quarter of the country's 1,300 brown bears in response to recent deaths.
However, the state-sanctioned cull has been criticized by conservationists and opposition politicians, including in the European Parliament.
The brown bear is listed as a “near threatened” species in the EU by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. However, the Slovak government is pressing ahead with its plan, and this week announced that meat from killed bears will be sold to the public in an attempt to prevent waste.
From next week, organizations under the supervision of the Slovak Ministry of the Environment will be able to offer the meat for sale, provided that all legal and hygiene conditions are met.
Bears have become a problem in Slovakia after an increase in the number of bear attacks on people, including fatal ones. Slovakia has the second largest population of brown bears in Europe after Romania, which is home to an estimated 13,000. The country has recorded a total of 54 bear attacks between 2000 and 2020. The average number of attacks has also increased to approximately 10 per year.
Prime Minister Robert Fico then announced the cull, saying: “We cannot live in a country where people are afraid to go into the forest.“
Meanwhile, the European Union's Food Safety Regulation requires all bear meat to be tested for Trichinella larvae before it is sold. Freezing, smoking or drying the meat does not make it safe.