Translation:
A prince from Liechtenstein shot the biggest bear in Romania, although it is illegal
Even though bear hunting has been banned in Romania for 4 years, one of the largest bears in the Carpathians was hunted last month in the forests of Covasna by a prince from Liechtenstein.
He allegedly paid 7,000 euros to legally hunt a bear in our country. But he wouldn't have shot a "problem-bear", for which hunting approval had been received, but a trophy bear called "golden" by hunters.
The accusations are brought by the investigators of an environmental organization who say that "Arthur", a monitored bear, considered one of the most beautiful in Romania, fell victim. The Environmental Guard was notified and the verifications began.
In Ojdula, Covasna, the locals complained that a bear was harming their households. But they were talking about a she-bear and not about the male hunted last month by the prince. And in the alerts received on the mobile phone it is also mentioned a she-bear.
Marcos Barna is the president of the hunting association in the area. He also confirms the presence of she-bears with cubs in Ojdula, this year. No mention of the big bear shot a month ago.
In March, however, the association he runs organized a hunt in Ojdula, where a bear was killed. A male.
The hunter was Prince Josef - Emanuel of Liechtenstein, as the Ojdula Hunters Association wrote when he asked for approval.
He paid 7,000 euros for the hunt and left with the trophy. The specimen is rated with a score of 592.90, out of a maximum of 600. That is, it is a valuable "golden bear" - in the language of hunters.
Prince Josef-Emanuel of Liechtenstein is 32 years old and is the youngest child and the only son of the royal couple Nikolaus and Margaretha of Liechtenstein. He is 16th on the line of succession to the throne. Now, he does business all over the world and is known to be passionate about hunting.
The shooting of the bear was possible after the hunters received a waiver for shooting a problem specimen. But the files document bears attacks that took place last summer, six months before the shooting, not recent and repeated attacks - as the law requires.
Gheorghe Neagu is the director of the Agency for Environmental Protection Covasna and is the one who signed the document on which the Ministry of Environment granted a derogation for shooting a problem bear.
According to the waivers, the Ojdula Hunting Association did not request a waiver last year. Only this year, the hunters wanted to shoot 3 bears, but they received approval for one.
Volunteers from the environmental association "Agent Green" claim that the shot bear is not the one who was causing problems in the village.
As a proof, environmental activists say, the attacks of bears descending on Ojdula have not stopped.
We asked the prince for a point of view on what happened at the hunt in Romania. Until the date of the report, it did not respond to our request.
However, we have the correspondence that the prince had with a journalist from Switzerland, who will present this case in the international press.
He wrote him, and now I quote the Prince: “It is known that the subject of hunting is very controversial in public. Personally, I do not want to get involved in this discussion in any way. Therefore, I will refrain from further comments. "
The representatives of the National Environmental Guard informed us that they have been notified in this case and are carrying out an investigation.