Mother bear and cubs spotted on busy hiking trail in Poland
A national park official says the mother could deliberately be staying near humans to protect her cubs from male bears.
A female brown bear and her three cubs were observed on a popular hiking trail in Poland's Tatra mountains, coming unusually close to people. According to a park official, the mother bear's behavior could be a survival strategy to protect her cubs from male bears, which may kill cubs but tend to avoid humans. Videos of the bear family have been circulating on social media, raising concerns about the animals becoming less wary of people.
However, park officials explain that the female's behavior may have a biological explanation, as male brown bears are known to engage in infanticide. The park hopes to gather more data on the bear's movements and behavior by potentially fitting her with a telemetry collar. Visitors are advised to remain calm, avoid sudden movements, and not attempt to approach or take close-up photos of the bears.
The region has seen a growing number of bear encounters, with the last fatal attack reported in 2014. A new 16 million zloty scheme aims to protect both bears and human residents by setting up a special force, fitting bears with tracking collars, and installing bear-proof rubbish bins.
Written by urgent.news from Notes from Poland's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
