The brown bear, which appeared in various places in south-east Bavaria in the spring, is dead. As the Bavarian State Office for the Environment announced on Monday in Augsburg, genetic tests showed that it was the same animal that was found in Salzburg on May 23 Austria was hit by a train and killed. Further current indications of brown bears in Bavaria are therefore not available at the moment.
According to the announcement, an exchange of samples between the Natural History Museum in Vienna and the German Senckenberg Institute brought clarity. The male bear killed several sheep in Bavaria in April and May. Traces of the animal had also been found in various places. Shortly before his death, the bear was photographed in the Bavarian district of Oberallgäu. The animal had usually kept away from people.
According to the state office, young males sometimes roam very far in search of a female. The nearest brown bear population is around 120 kilometers from Bavaria in Trentino, Italy. Brown bears are among the largest land predators in the world – in the bear family, only the polar bear is larger. Male brown bears can weigh more than 550 kilograms, while females are significantly smaller and lighter at up to 250 kilograms.
The stately bears were widespread throughout Europe up until the Middle Ages. Nowadays, however, it is a rarity when a brown bear roams Germany. When the bear “Bruno” immigrated to Bavaria in 2006 and killed sheep there, he was shot. The main reason for the shooting back then was that “Bruno” was not afraid of people and settlements and was considered dangerous.
