Bear sighted in Bavaria, first time in 170 years

Apparently this bear was previously seen in the Lech valley in Tirol, and now tucked into 4 sheep near Garmisch then disappeared.

i'd be hungry too if i walked from Lech to Garmisch!

If you live in the sticks or outskirts of Garmisch, don't leave any kind of food in your car. Bears can get into cars easily and do a lot of damage.

When I lived in Colorado, the bears would sometimes come down from the mountains if it had been dry and the berry supply was low. They would break into cars if they smelled, say, a bag of dog food in the trunk. Then they would tear out the back of the back seat to get to the food in the trunk.

Anyone know where wild bears take a dump?

Where I grew up black bears were very common and grizzlies still have a reasonably healthly population (albeit under pressure). My three memories of bears are as follows:

- Camping as a kid before bear-proof garbage containers, black bears were pretty common in campgrounds. One was wondering through checking out the left over buffet when a car spooked him (or her, no time to check beneath the tail). The shortest route between where he was and the woods was through the camping ground stall we were occupying. My mom was reading a book in front of the fire when the bear ran between her and the fire place and into the bushes. Didn't phase her a bit, after a good long look she went back to her book.

- Hiking in the spring is always dangerous because bears are newly awake and very hungry. On one trail we came around the corner to find a new formed and still steaming pile of scat. Needless to say we back out there singing to the top of our lungs. Never saw the bear, I guess he did not like our reportoire.

- The final bear memory involves cooperation. On one hike, we had a food hang in which we climbed up a couple of trees, stretched a line between them and hoisted up our food with a good 5-6M of clearance to the ground. Unfortunate we did not put up a squirrel stop and the little buggers got in our kit and chewed out the bottom of the grub bags - which were then foraged by a black bear. Cut that particular hike short and learned that even animals work together sometimes!

Glad to hear there are bears, it means a health eco-system... even if they do eat the occasional sheep or poodle.

It'll probably nick the stereo and satnav and sell them to fund its sheep habit.

Article from the BBC: Germany welcomes wild bear return

The Bears were re-introduced from Slovenia. I came across some bear tracks in the snow North of the GardaSee just over a year ago. Check out this link: Bear Chrono
Take care,
space

based on this quote from the Hunters association


I presume it is only a matter of time before one of them bags the first bear in 170 years, with the excuse "it was bothering my sheep"

Indeed. And will then use the excuse "Well. It kind of looked like a deer..."

"I read somewhere that women's periods attract bears.

"Bears can smell the menstruation!!"

There have been bears in Bavaria for years, walked in from Czech Rep during the 90s.

Nah. That's just an old excuse for why guys shouldn't have to take their wives/girlfriends camping.

anyway whats the fuss there have been bears in the GBV for years, they even have their own bars

I just heard on the radio that they´re considering shooting the bear...what the heck?!

If they do that, and do not eat it, I'll be outraged.

woah! any hunters out there on TT?!?!

I would prefer to go out in a party of not more than 4 (else it ceases to be fun, we have to give the bear a chance). I know of a place that can hire us out the 7mm reming's mag, should take out bears cleanly. so is there a place where we can apply and get a permit or license.

for the animal brigade - if the people at large didnt miss them for 170 years then another 100 wont be a problem. plus you wanna see one go to the zoo.

lastly, if we dont find it we can shoot a big fat bavarian in lederhosen and say it was a case of mistaken identity.

friggin idiots, so a bear killed a few sheep, thats what it is supposed to do, eat, wtf is wrong with that? kill him me arse, tell the welsh to supply some more sheep and all is ok.

dont want a starved bear to hunt, makes him slow.

I asked this years ago - you need so many licences and shit you'll never be able to do it before you leave mate. Anyway, I hear you're a shit shot...

that adds to the excitement!

good with handguns though!

If the bear is threatening the population the only choices you have are to shoot it (and eat it) or to relocate it. As sad as it is, you just can't have bears mingling with people.

Nah, you just can't have people mingling with bears.
I say relocate the people, or just shoot and eat them.

I think it is only fair after what the tramp Goldilocks did to them.

relocate it!! if there is a bear sighted anywhere in a place where it has not been for 170 years, he has of course forgotten the local etiquette. the good thing would be to hunt it, eat it and make a nice hat and coat of the leather. very warm and soft too it is, the leather.

Eat it, shoot it, and leave it.
Possibly not in that order.

Bears (and other animals) are being transplanted to several regions that they have nearly become extinct. Read an article while in Spain last week about this (online article found by Google) and how the sheep farmers are rather upset...

I, for one, welcome our new Slovenian bear overlords.

Perviously they were talking about catching the bear and implanting a device to follow where it goes, but Schnappauf, the Environment Minister, has just given the all clear to shoot him for "security reasons". They think people could be endangered. The hunters are probably more dangerous than the bear.

Aye, there's plenty of mentally unstable knacker farmers running rouund with guns down there in the country.

(ie South of Poccistrasse U-Bahn. )

But CSU government does favours for upcountry farmers shocker!

The CSU are probably more worried about the bad example of letting something non-white across the border without papers than any possible environmental fallout.

"people could be endangered."

People can be endangered by lot´s of things! Sounds like an inexperienced over-reaction to me - oh wait, that´s right inexperienced cause the last bears were wiped out 170 years ago with the same mind set. I mean, at the very least they could put this bear in a zoo, or "extradite" him/her (easily doable - Laptops and Lederhosen and all that.) Is this a Grizzly?! No. It´s probably some kind of black/brown bear, a species which generally shy away from humans. Once they´ve tasted human blood, that´s another problem, but it seems this guy was just doing what bears do - eating unthreatening mammals. I mean really, if this goes down, then Germany´s credibility vis a vis saving threatened species from extinction will be zero. What are the stats anyway for Brown bears mauling humans? A hell of a lot less than say, crazy Porsches driving unsuspecting drivers off the Autobahn...

What!! the bear is brown, sorry people the hunt is to be called off. i thought it was black.

As long as the commas stay in place.

This SZ article states that since the animal is apparently out of control (it has already killed 7 sheep and shows no fear of humans), the bear is to be destroyed. The decision was made by the Bavarian Minister for Environment and he is supported by the WWF.

BTW, killing sheep is par for the course for bears.

"shows no fear of humans", i have seen quite a few bears in the wild and none seemed afraid of humans. wonder why, we are after all so strong and big and have even bigger claws than them

there is a difference if and only if it is actively seeking out humans to show them he is not scared of humans, else it seems like bollocks. WWF...wonder if sharks have fear of humans, the normal ones i mean not the crazy one who dont fear us and need to nbe hunted down.

Actually bears should be and are usually afraid of humans and the noises we make. Most of the time bears will stay away from us unless they are forced due to a shortage of food supply or because they have become used to humans. Both cases make the bears dangerous to humans and means they have to be removed. Would you really want the death of a human on your hands?

I'm certainly no advocate of bear killing but where I come from we have regular casualties from bear encounters and it's almost always because a bear has come away from it's natural habitat due to lack of food and has lost its fear of humans. It doesn't help that idiots leave food out in places that are accessible to the bears.

Relocating the bears has it's problems too because once the bear has lost it's fear the chance of it threatening other areas populated by humans becomes greater but under the circumstances I don't see why this shouldn't at least be attempted before killing the bear.

The trouble is where would you relocate it too. Let's face it, a lot of Canada is completely devoid of Human life, but you don't have to go far in the Alps to come across a village. Of course it must of come from somewhere, but where? By the way I'm not advocating shooting it either.

Do we get to pick the human?

Only if there's anything left after the bear has finished with him. Or her.

Eeeeeewwwww!

@ Keydeck

see, now if you'd dissected a cat in high school, that wouldn't gross you out so much.

You shoot this bear and it´s gone forever.

I think it should have a name.

How about Hofmeister? Anyone remember the old lager advert? Follow the bear?

Or should we call him Löwenbräu? Then stick him on their posters:

Löwenbräu: Ein Bear wie Bayern

I would prefer a relocation or a placing in a zoo, bears become unafraid of humans when they are really hungry or they are used to people being around. Been camping enough in the Rockies to see alot of bears not afraid of humans.
I am sure the bear is out of control as its most likely very hungry- heck it walked here from Slovenia! Its in a new surrounding, and trying to get its bearings (sorry bad choice of words).

Just got this related story from a friend of mine. Crocs are on the move as well these days, what´s a goin on here

Bear on the loose in Seattle

I once accompanied a roomate of mine on a journalism assignment. He´d been tasked to write a story about the last Grizzly sighting in a particular region of Montana. It went way back, something like 40 years. We interviewed an old Ranger who gave us the specifics and then we went to the actual location. It was eerily sad ...to know there were no more Grizzlies, and probably never would be in that forest.

I keep reading, "Beer sighted in Bavaria - first time in 170 years"

you know, i have to say that after a couple glasses of wine, i see the same thing...

shoot it! down in one.

EDIT - beer, bear, all the same.

EDIT EDIT - I hate to meet hairy growlers on a dark night and so it should be dealt with accordingly

But apparently they normal thing is to kill and then eat, and to return to the kill to eat a few days later. Not to commit mass sheep murder for the fun of it. Poor Shaun must be shaking in his slippers.