Taraba: Police to Help with Bear Shooting in Built-up Areas of Villages

        Bratislava, January 8 (TASR) - Police officers will help with the shooting of bears in the built-up areas of municipalities, Environment Minister Tomas Taraba (an SNS nominee) and Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) announced at a press conference on Monday.
        They want to have the new crisis management system ready by the end of January. According to Sutaj Estok, it should be efficient, simple and fast.
        "We have the right to eliminate bears in built-up areas of municipalities. ... If someone calls 112 to report the occurrence of a bear in a built-up area of a village, we won't only have to send an emergency team there, but the police will be called out to the scene immediately," noted Taraba, adding that the police won't intervene if the bear isn't aggressive. They will only delimit the space to avoid a collision with people.
        According to the head of the Environment Ministry, hunters can be called to the place and the bear will be killed on the spot in cooperation with the police. He also wants district offices to issue bear-shooting exemptions more quickly.
        "If the bear doesn't show normal behaviour and the police have appropriate equipment on the spot, they will intervene on the basis of an exemption," said Taraba. Sutaj Estok added that the police have emergency units that have weapons that can be used against bears.