Balkan bears eat wild boars

Bears got into the habit of going to the hunting grounds near the Serbian town of Kosjeric. Here, near the feeders for wild boars, several cubs were seen accompanied by their parents. The animals liked the pork diet, but the locals are not thrilled with such guests.

"They leave their footprints everywhere. They come for food. So far they have not caused any harm," says Miroslav Yovanovich, chairman of the hunting association.

Hunters assume that since bears are not characteristic of this place, most likely they came from Mount Tara, located west of the city. This mountain range is home to many bears that are able to travel a long way in search of a new habitat. Perhaps for this reason, they went to the area of Kosyerich and stumbled upon feeders.

Hunting farm workers reassure local residents: experts on wild animals believe that there is no reason to be afraid: "These are herbivorous bears that did not cause any damage to people, but only left wild boars without food." The locals don't seem to really believe such a verdict.

In Bulgaria, hunting feeders have also attracted wild animals. But they turned out to be little cubs left without a mother. The emaciated cubs were noticed by residents of a mountain village and reported to the Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research.

Here's what the expert of this institution, Vladimir Todorov, said: "It was necessary to save the animals, because the cubs are less than a year old, they still have poorly developed survival habits in the wild. Due to the lack of food, they came too close to the populated place where the hunters' feeders are located."

Specialists of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus, the WWF environmental organization and the Four Paws Foundation have been searching for cubs for several days to save them from imminent death. Then the cubs were temporarily placed in a bear shelter in southwestern Bulgaria. Now the foundlings are being prepared for evacuation to the Greek animal rehabilitation center. And the population of the Balkan region collects the funds necessary to prepare the cubs for life in the wild.