"It was surprising, it was something incredible," exclaims Mike, a tourist from Israel who did not reveal his full name and was heading to the volcanic lake of Saint Anne, Transylvania (in central Romania). "He seems calm, without any worries," adds the 72-year-old man as he gets out of his car to photograph the animal.
In front of them is an adult male bear and three napkins left over from a sandwich that was thrown to him from a car for him to eat.
Romania has the largest population of brown bears in Europe (excluding Russia), with nearly 8,000 individuals, according to the Romanian Ministry of the Environment. And more and more are coming out of the forests, generating fear and debate among the local population.
Given the increase in attacks, the country increased the hunting quota for this year to 220, from 140 previously, and various sectors demand that more specimens of this species protected by a European Union directive be allowed to be killed.
Far from the enthusiasm of tourists, locals fear the increase in encounters with bears. Official figures indicate 154 attacks between 2016 and 2021, with 158 people injured and 14 dead; with an increase in dangerous situations in recent years.
Fekete Tibor takes care of 70 cows near the road to the volcanic lake, in a mountainous area neighboring the town of Lazaresti. "Bears cause damage and put our lives in danger," says the 40-year-old rancher. He claims that three of his cows were killed this year, and it is expensive to maintain the six dogs that protect his herd. He would like them to simply kill the bears, an opinion widely shared in the region.
About 30 km away, in the town of Miercurea Ciuc, a six-year-old bear entered a school playground in September and climbed a tree. The intervention team decided to kill the animal rather than scare or tranquilize it to take it away, indicating that they were concerned for the safety of the more than 1,700 students at the school.
"He can attack [when shot with a tranquilizer], and who takes responsibility if someone gets hurt?" said Mayor Attila Korodi. He assured that this year more bears have appeared on the city streets, which were scared away.
"I think Europe sees Romania not only as a kind of sanctuary, but as a museum where everything must be kept intact," said Korodi, a former environment minister who criticizes the lack of help from Brussels.
"There is a lot of romanticism in this situation when everyday life with bears is not romantic at all," he added.
Sport hunting of bears has been prohibited since 2016 in Romania and only "specialized technical personnel" can shoot them. Parliament shelved a proposal to allow the killing of almost 500 bears per year.
Barna Tanczos, the former Environment Minister who promoted the initiative, warned that if more bears are not killed, they will end up roaming the streets of Bucharest or "bathing in the Danube Delta."
The project has drawn the ire of environmentalists, who fear the quotas will be used for sport hunting and to kill big, old bears that don't cause problems.
Not far from Miercurea Ciuc is the mountainous resort town of Baile Tusnad, which is looking into how to better deal with bears.
"We must understand that the bears are not going to disappear from this area. But if the bear does not feel safe, it will not stay in the town," biologist Imecs Istvan, an expert who criticizes tourist attitudes such as that of feeding bears, even though it is not illegal.
With advice from Imecs Istvan and environmental groups such as WWF, the town has tested bear-proof garbage bins and installed 400 electric fences around homes and waste bins to keep bears at bay. In the same sense, an application has been created for computer devices that explains how to behave to avoid problems with bears.
In this town, and after the adoption of measures, after receiving 50 complaints about damage in 2021, the figure fell to zero in 2022 and 2023. Laci, who only gave his first name, said his wife convinced him to install a fence electric years ago.
"Whoever says in Tusnad that he is not afraid of bears is either a liar or stupid," said the 47-year-old. "We got used to living together, there is no other way," he said.
