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Germany: Bear on the loose in Bavaria kills two sheep

April 19, 2023

Bears have been extinct in Germany since the 1800s but, in rare occasions, bears from other countries wander in. Local farmers in Bavaria were advised to keep their animals indoors at night.

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An image showing a bear paw print in the snow in the southern German state of Bavaria
The bear left behind footprints in the snow following the attack on several sheepImage: Bayerisches Landesamt für Umwelt/dpa/picture alliance

A wandering bear killed two sheep and wounded another one in the Rosenheim district in the south of Bavaria. The dead animals were found on a pasture in the border area with Austria on Wednesday. The injured animal had to be put down due to its injuries.

The incident comes as authorities had announced on Monday evening that paw prints from a brown bear were discovered in the snow last weekend in the districts of Miesbach and Rosenheim near the border with Austria.

Bavaria's State Office for the Environment said that footprints on the site and the extent of the animal's injuries confirmed that a bear had been the culprit.

The animal has not yet been sighted nor had direct contact with humans in the area. 

Livestock farmers in the border area with Austria were asked to bring their animals into the barn at night if possible and to take herd protection measures.

Brown bear Bruno in to the Natural History Museum in Munich
Brown bear "Bruno" made headlines in 2006 when he roamed Bavaria. He was shot, stuffed and taken to the Natural History Museum in MunichImage: AP

What happened to German bears?

The Eurasian brown bear was once common throughout Europe (except for the largest islands such as Ireland, Iceland, Gotland, Corsica and Sardinia) but later disappeared from most areas due to logging, farming and hunting.

In Germany, the brown bear was considered extinct after the last bear was shot in 1835 in the Bavarian Alps near Ruhpolding.

However, in May 2006, 171 years later, a young male bear made headlines after wandering 250 kilometers (155 miles) from northern Italy to Bavaria.

Known as Bruno, the bear was considered to have behavioral problems after he began searching for food around houses and appeared to have lost any fear of humans.

After failed attempts to catch him, he was shot by hunters in June 2006, before being stuffed and put in Munich's Natural History Museum.

The authorities gave the last confirmed indication of a brown bear in Bavaria last summer. According to the Bavarian State Office for the Environment, the bear population closest to Bavaria lives in Trentino, Italy, about 120 kilometers from Bavaria. A bear recently killed a jogger there.

dh/jcg (AFP, dpa)

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