We must bring normalcy to bear issue debate (EnvironmentMin Buzoianu)

The Ministry of Environment is working on a complex package of measures to solve the bear problem, with the legislative bill to be launched into public debate, the Minister of Environment, Waters and Forestry Diana Buzoianu said on Monday.

"So far we have looked at two extremes. The discussion around bears has been very polarized and is being used as a weapon to somehow increase one extreme. Whether we are talking about the idea that we do not touch any bears in a country where we have between 10,000 and 12,000 bears from the preliminary data obtained by counting bears, or whether we are talking about the other extreme, in which hunters must come and take all the bears in Romania, both extremes, in fact, have only led to tragedies, to deaths that could have been prevented, and the job of the Ministry of Environment is, on the one hand, to protect people's lives, and on the other hand, to protect a treasure that we all have reason to be proud of, a biodiversity that is unique at a European level. This means that we must manage bears in such a way that we have no more tragedies of this kind. That means a complex package of measures that we are working on, which will not be adopted until after the parliamentary recess. Being a legislative bill, it will be launched into public debate", the environment minister said in a press conference.

In her opinion, measures are needed such as increasing fines, the possibility given to city halls to intervene when the community is endangered, electric fences and systems that prevent bears from eating the garbage generated by residents.

According to the environment minister, even where we see cases of good practice in communities that "have managed to avoid this clash between people and bears", these are complex measures that were put into practice "maybe in a year or two".

"This is a subject that until now, from my point of view, has been pushed to one extreme or the other. (...) With a balanced package, both extremes will scream and both extremes will say that it is not good, but the moment when everyone from these extremes says that it is not the right solution, in fact, then we will know that we have found a balanced measure", Diana Buzoianu also said.