A special police unit tasked with scaring away bears from populated areas is to be launched next week around Poland’s southeastern Bieszczady mountains, which are home to the country’s largest population of brown bears.
The force, made up of six officers, will be based in the town of Lesko and will operate over the summer season, when the area is popular with hikers, provincial police spokesman Piotr Wojtunik told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
They will fire rubber bullets to scare away bears, in the hope that the animals will begin to associate humans with pain and become reluctant to approach people and avoid human settlements in the future, reports PAP.
The most recent bear sighting occurred in the area on Friday, when an animal was spotted roaming through Sanok, a town of 37,000 near the mountains.
Scrolujcie dalej. To tylko niedźwiedź w Sanoku chcący przejść na drugą stronę ulicy. #Sanok #Niedzwiedź
Źródło: @KorsoSanockie pic.twitter.com/ghpzLLTd0k
— Hubert Walko 🇵🇱 (@HubertWalko) July 7, 2023
Anna Oleniacz, spokeswoman for Sanok police department, appealed to residents and tourists to allow the new unit to carry out its work. If members of the public encounter a bear, they should not attempt to scare the animal away themselves, but stay away from the creature and alert the police.
The best action that the public can take to keep bears away from built-up areas is to securely dispose of food waste and ensure that rubbish containers are properly sealed.
“By leaving scraps in various places, forest animals will have easy access to food,” said Tomasz Matuszewski, the mayor of Sanok, quoted by PAP.
The mountain resort town of Zakopane has installed new rubbish bins designed to prevent wild animals, including bears, from foraging for food in them.
The initiative, a collaboration with Tatra National Park, is intended to protect both animals and humans https://t.co/7PW0SatYxg
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) August 1, 2022
Main image credit: Charles J. Sharp/Wikimedia Commons (under Charles J. Sharp/Wikimedia Commons)
Anna Hackett is an assistant editor at Notes from Poland. She is a recent graduate of European Studies from Trinity College Dublin and has had previous journalistic experience with the Irish Independent News & Media group.
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