Story By: Gheorghi Caraseni, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
This huge bear that suffered three broken legs after it was involved in a serious car accident was left lying on the road for 18 hours before finally being shot.
The incident occurred over the weekend in central Romania on the road in Harghita County where the bear was hit by a car on the road between Praid and Sovata.
The accident took place at night when the driver was reportedly blinded by an oncoming vehicle’s lights and unfortunately hit the bear, which is said to have run into the road in front of the car.
Nobody in the car was hurt, but the bear was left in agony for almost a day before finally being shot after it was decided that it could not be saved. It is unclear if the driver will face any charges.
Local authorities were blamed for unnecessary delay because of poor coordination.
A vet, for example, who was called to the scene did not have a tranquilliser with him, and nobody else was authorised to shoot the bear. It is unclear why another vet was not called to the scene.
In the end, it was shot in front of a huge crowd that had gathered around the injured animal.
Costel Alexe, who only took up the post as the Minister for Environment, Water and Forests earlier this month, described what had happened as both regrettable and cruel. It is currently unclear why it was decided the bear could not be saved.
The Internal Affairs Minister of Romania Marcel Vela stated that the Gendarmerie and Sanitary-Veterinary Direction (DSV) both have the legal authority to intervene, but had been paralysed by the fact that they did not have a tranquilliser or even a relevant specialist that was capable of dealing with the problem.
As a result, the minister fired the head of the responsible official from Harghita, Andrei Jean Adrian.
He said: “The official made an error in his role as chairman of the County Committee for Emergency Situations which was not just a decorative role.”
There have been increasing conflicts between bears in Romania and humans in part because of the shortage of food and diminishing woodlands in the country.
Local media reported it was the third bear in the space of a few days to have been hit by a car.
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