Holarctic

A female bear was found decapitated and mutilated in a field near the village of Pylorio in Western Macedonia on Christmas Eve, according to a statement by a local conservation group on Friday morning, state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported.

A Turkish mother has been found alive after she went missing for three days in the wild, telling journalists through her brother that a bear and wolf approached but did not harm her. 

High-tech tracking collars on nine female polar bears have measured the animals' efforts to find food on the diminishing Arctic ice, writes BBC.

Each bear wore a collar - recording video, location and activity levels - for 8-12 days, while metabolic tracers tracked the bears' energy use.

Romania's forest administration on Tuesday released rare footage of a wolf pack caught by a surveillance camera in the Piatra Craiului National Park in the Southern Carpathians.

Romania's Environment Minister Gratiela Gavrilescu announced on Tuesday that she is to issue a special order this week that would allow the killing of bears and wolves deemed dangerous, despite opposition from activists.

Hungry wolves have attacked racehorses, killing at least one and injuring another, according to ranch owners in Istanbul's Silivri district, Doğan News Agency reported on Aug. 20.

The incidents occurred in the Büyükçavuşlu and Beyciler neighborhoods on the outskirts of the Istranca Forests. 

Dancing Bears Park Belitsa, a sanctuary in south-west Bulgaria for the rehabilitation of mistreated bears, has announced that its first Albanian resident arrived successfully from Tirana on May 4.

A total of six wolf pups were found in a forested area in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on May 8, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported. 

Ergün Yücel Avcı, Forestry Ministry's director of the Hazro district, and forest protection officers found the pups while on duty investigating afforestation works in the İslamköy neighborhood.  

A veterinarian is due to determine whether a brown bear - a protected species - found dead on the outskirts of Florina in northern Greece on Tuesday was poisoned or died of other causes.

Arcturos, a Florina-based bear conservation group, said it found the animal dead a day after alerting authorities in Florina that a bear had been spotted near the town.

These spectacular photos that are in the running for National Geographic Traveler photographer contest reveal the amazing beauty and fury of Mother Nature.