A motorcyclist has been mauled to death by a bear in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains, emergency service officials have confirmed.
The incident on Thursday marks the latest fatal attack in a country grappling with the European Union’s largest brown bear population, estimated at 10,000 to 13,000 by a recent DNA study.
Romanian authorities have long been struggling to keep residents and tourists safe in mountain towns.
Police and emergency services issued a joint statement, saying tourists alerted them to Thursday’s attack on the Transfagarasan road in the central county of Arges.
The bear had reportedly dragged the motorcyclist down a ravine.
There were no details provided about the identity of the motorcyclist.
Nearly 30 people have been killed by bears in Romania over the past two decades, the environment ministry has said.
Sightings of bears are common and local media regularly report bear attacks on people and livestock.
In 2024, Romania’s parliament doubled the annual bear kill quota to 481 per year.
The move was taken to control the size of the bear population and to remove animals that have become accustomed to entering cities in search of food.
It came just a week after a 19-year-old hiker died after she was attacked by a bear on a popular trail in the Carpathian mountains in central Romania.
The teenager called emergency services as she was attacked.
Her boyfriend told local search and rescue teams that they were being chased by a bear.
“She was terrified… you can tell, she was screaming: ‘The bear is getting closer and closer!’” Dan Banu, head of Salvamont Prahova, told local media.
“Everything happened live, the 112 dispatcher was on the phone and the young man was shouting that they were being attacked by a bear and that he had taken the girl. It was something terrible!” Mr Banu continued.
“He told us that the bear grabbed the girl by one leg and was dragging her after he and, at some point, he didn’t see what he did with her. The bear dragged her from the path and threw her 120 meters into the valley.”
Just a few months prior, a 72-year-old Scottish tourist was mauled by a bear in Arges county after rolling down her car window to take a photo with the animal.
Wildlife experts have said bear attacks have increased because of human behaviour as the shrinking of the animals’ habitats due to construction, logging and climate change.
Many bears are also attracted by rubbish dumps on the outskirts of cities and by discarded food.
Officials have not done enough to step up prevention measures, including electric fences and better trash management, wildlife experts said.
