Bear that injured 5 during rampage shot dead, Slovakia officials say but critics say the wrong bear was killed [Video]

Slovakia’s government on Wednesday said the bear that attacked five people in the country earlier this month was shot dead, as Bratislava drafted plans to ease bear cull restrictions. But opposition politicians said that a much smaller bear that had nothing to do with the rampage was actually killed. 

The bear attack that left five people, including a 10-year-old girl, injured occurred in the center of Liptovsky Mikulas, a town nestled in the foothills of the Tatra mountains near popular ski resorts, the BBC reported.

“A bear that injured five in Liptovsky Mikulas was successfully shot dead yesterday… A biometrics drone was used to identify it,” the environment minister Tomas Taraba said on social media on Wednesday.

Bear attacks have been on the rise in the Central European country, with 20 such incidents last year, up from only eight in 2021, according to data from the environment ministry.

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