French Examining Cohabitation of People and Bears in Kocevje
A delegation from France, comprising representatives of national, regional and local authorities as well as hunters and sheep breeders from the Pyrenees, is visiting Slovenia this week to try to find the key to successful cohabitation between people and brown bears.
France tried to repopulate the brown bear in the Pyrenees with animals from the Kocevski rog forest two years ago, after failing already in the 1990s.
The reactions to this project in France were very mixed. One of the bears in Pyrenees gave birth to two cubs this winter, which provoked great uproar among farmers and hunters.
The aim of the visit is to see how cohabitation works Slovenia. The delegation was surprised at how well bears and people got on in such a small territory, where bears often lived not far from urban areas.
Head of local natural park Kolpa told the delegation that although none of the parties involved were always happy, the cohabitation with bears was possible. He added that constant dialogue between social partners was key to solving problems.
Apart from representatives of local authorities, the delegation met Environment and Spatial Planning Minister Janez Podobnik on Thursday.
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