Romanians Campaign Against Push to Revive Bear Hunts

The planned modification of the law on hunting would remove the rare brown bear from the list of species accorded the highest level of protection and place it in the category of those eligible for seasonal hunting.

The change was backed by the Social Democrat-led government and approved last week by the Romanian Senate, the upper house of parliament. 

Activists in Romania have launched an urgent campaign to prevent the lower house from adopting it, after which it would become law.

In support of the current ban, WWF has launched a petition addressed to the government, parliament and the EU, which  more than 25,000 people have signed in only a few days.

It calls on the lower house of parliament to reject the draft passed by the Senate. It also asks the government to come up with "data and scientific arguments" to back legal changes that would open the door to bear hunting "without restrictions within the periods established by law".

The proposed change "was approved in a bizarre way that raises suspicions," WWF Romania's spokesperson Livia Cimpoeru told BIRN.

Opposition MPs have also denounced the amendment, especially because they said the re-listing of the bear was introduced at the last minute.

A picture made available on 08 July 2010 shows a brown bear in the Bucegi Mountains, south of the city of Brasov, Romania, 19 June 2010. Archive photo: EPA/STEFAN KORSHAK

Cimpoeru said she suspected this was done deliberately, "to eliminate any obstacle or legal competent opinion" opposing the change - which was not included in the initial draft.

The WWF official sees the move as a way to "return to a system of managing [wildlife] populations based on hunting".

"Bears are a very lucrative species," Cimpoeru...