A brown bear attack on a hiking trip that left a teenage girl dead is causing a revolt in Romania, to the point where deputies will be recalled from recess to address the situation.
19-year-old Maria Diana was hiking in the Bucegi mountains with her boyfriend when a bear rushed on them on the hiking track.
The couple was on the phone with emergency services when the bear reportedly grabbed Maria’s leg and ‘dragged her off a 400-foot cliff’.
Rescuers stated that her injuries were ‘incompatible with life’.
New York Post reported:
“Dan Banu, head of the local mountain rescue service, told local media: ‘She was terrified…you can tell, she was screaming: ’The bear is getting closer and closer!’’
‘It was all happening live, the [emergency] dispatcher was on the phone and [her partner] was shouting that they were being attacked by the bear and that he had taken the girl. It was terrible!’
‘He told us that the bear grabbed the girl by the leg and at one point he didn’t see what he did to her’.”
The boyfriend told the authorities that they were climbing towards the Spumoasa waterfall when the bear appeared.
“When rescuers arrived on the scene, they found the snarling beast circling the body. The ‘aggressive’ predator tried to attack them and was then shot dead.”
The boyfriend witnessed the horrific attack but was left unharmed other than psychologically.
“’It was unexpected. I tried to scare the bear, but the misfortune happened. I’d rather it had been me’, he told Stirile Pro TV.”
The president of Romania’s mountain rescue services, Sabin Corniou, said that the bear apparently dragged the girl into the vegetation next to the trail, dropped her into a chasm and came down after her.
This attack caused a commotion in Romania, home to Europe’s second-largest population of brown bears of up to 8,000.
Reuters reported:
“Romania’s prime minister will summon lawmakers to attend an extraordinary parliamentary session to seek ways to prevent to bear attacks after a hiker was mauled to death.”
Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu will call politicians back from the recess that begins at the end of June and continues until September.
“He did not specify when the extraordinary session would take place, but said the aim was to agree measures to target high-risk areas.
‘There will not be a free-for-all on shooting bears in Romania’, he said.”
Romanian media regularly reports on bear attacks against people and livestock.
“The environment minister said in March that 26 people have been killed by bears in the last 20 years.
In 2021, a government decree gave town and city authorities the power to shoot bears that break into people’s gardens and houses if attempts to chase them off or relocate them had failed.”
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