Heinous environmental crime: A mother bear and her two cubs were murdered in a Natura 2000 area
On Sunday 3/12/2023, a sensitized citizen notified the Police that on the 106th kilometer of the Ioannina-Kozani National Road, between Playa Konitsa and Eptachori, Kastoria, there are 3 dead bears shot. In addition to the Police, officials from the Environmental Organizations Callisto and Arktouros, the Hunting Federation of Macedonia-Thrace and the Kastoria Forest Service (members of the Immediate Intervention Team) immediately rushed to the incident, seeing a hideous sight. The autopsy revealed that the animals had been shot at close range with a gun used to hunt wild boar. It is about a mother bear (aged ∼6 years and weighing ∼110 kg) and her two cubs, a male and a female (aged ∼one year). An investigation is underway to solve the crime.
During the autopsy, Callisto collaborators collected genetic material (hair) from all 3 animals which they handed over to the North Pindos National Park Management Unit of NECCA. The material will be used for genetic analysis, which will provide additional information about the killed animals and also about their relationship with the population of the wider area. At the same time, the genetic material will be used in the training of the Karelian Bear Dogs (Karelian Bear Dogs) acquired by NECCA in the framework of the LIFE ARCPROM project for the removal of bears approaching residential areas.
The bear is strictly protected by Greek and European legislation. It is a valuable species of our natural wealth with an important role in the functioning of the forest ecosystem. The fact that the crime took place within a protected area (Natura 2000, ‘Peaks of Mount Grammos’) is indicative of how rampant poaching is in many parts of the country and how deficient guarding by authorized staff is. Apart from the obvious danger it poses to all protected species, the pressure exerted by poaching on the bear’s mountain habitats is likely to be one of the factors driving females and their cubs to move closer to populated areas, resulting in many times increasing human interaction.
As long as the law is not implemented, the situation will only get worse. The natural perpetrators of this heinous crime consider themselves the judges of which creature deserves to live and which does not. It is very likely that, if they are not caught and punished immediately, in the future they will also turn their weapons against people.
Callisto calls on the competent authorities not to stop the investigations until the perpetrators are identified. At the same time, the organization appeals to any citizen who may know any information that could be useful in clarifying the case to contact either the Police or the Kastoria Forest Service. Finally, Callisto intends to ask the Forestry Service to consider the possibility of declaring the perpetrators.