A Bear Attacked Livestock in Kalište, About Ten Days After One Strolled Past a School in Neighbouring Dobri Dol

Residents of Kalište, a village near Gostivar in the Municipality of Vrapčište, came face to face with a bear in the middle of their village. A brown bear broke in and attacked livestock, and the footage and eyewitness accounts spread quickly on social media, frightening people.

This is not the first encounter. About ten days ago, residents of the neighbouring village of Dobri Dol, also in the Municipality of Vrapčište, reported that a bear had been seen for the second time wandering freely through the streets right next to the "Sali Lisi" primary school.

The law is clear: the brown bear has been strictly protected in Macedonia since 1996, and hunting it has been completely banned since 2009. Its population in Mavrovo and the surrounding mountains is growing. Experts point out that bears' behaviour changes drastically when their habitats are disturbed or when there are too many of them, so in search of easy food - rubbish, beehives, orchards, livestock - they are increasingly coming into villages and towns.

The Crisis Management Centre and the municipalities recommend clearing the illegal dumps with food waste around villages and better securing livestock pens. Farmers say that's not enough and are asking for controlled relocation or a reduction in bear numbers where the animals pose a direct threat to people.

The state has two obligations here that it has to reconcile - protecting the species and keeping people safe. For now, the farmers are being advised to clean up the dumps. How many more herds have to be attacked before someone in the institutions comes up with a concrete plan instead of a recommendation?