Lithuanian Hunters Decline Government’s Request to Hunt Down a Bear in the Capital City

WARSAW – A young female bear caused a stir after wandering out of the forest and into the leafy suburbs of the Lithuanian capital.

For a couple of days, a brown bear wandered through the streets of Vilnius, strolled across highways, and roamed through gardens, followed closely by crowds with smartphones and, eventually, drones.

The government then issued a permit for the bear to be shot and killed.

This situation did not sit well with Lithuanian hunters, who, knowing the scarcity of this protected species in the nation, chose not to intervene.

The Lithuanian Association of Hunters and Fishermen said it was shocked by the government order.

The administrator of the association, Ramutė Juknytė, mentioned to The Associated Press on Wednesday that the bear was a lovely young female, approximately 2 years old, who did not deserve to be harmed. “She was frightened but not aggressive. She merely didn’t know how to find her way out of the city, and she didn’t cause any trouble,” he stated.

The organization tracks the movements of bears. It believes there is only five to 10 bears in the Baltic nation, but does not have a precise number.

The drama began on Saturday when the bear entered the capital. It was the first time in many years that a bear had entered the city and it became a national story. The animal came within about 4-5 kilometers (about 2-3 miles) of the city center.

Since causing a stir with their permit to kill the bear, Lithuanian authorities have been on the defensive.

Deputy Environment Minister Ramūnas Krugelis said that a kill permit was issued purely as a precaution in case the bear posed a threat, according to a report by the Lithuanian broadcaster LRT.

The hunters proposed a more humane approach: sedation, tracking and relocation.

As the debate over the bear’s fate unfolded, she took matters into her own paws and wandered out of the city.

Juknytė said that the bear was recorded by a camera on Wednesday, peacefully wandering through a forest some 60 kilometers (40 miles) from Vilnius while munching on corn.

Brown bears are native to the region and were once common. They were wiped out in Lithuania in the 19th century due to hunting and habitat loss.

In recent years they have started reappearing in small numbers, typically wandering in from neighboring countries like Latvia and Belarus, where small bear populations still exist. Bears are protected under Lithuanian and EU law as they are considered a rare and vulnerable species in the region.