The biggest coffee bear of Romania was killed by a prince of Liechtenstein during a hunting expedition and the country’s environmental police have launched an investigation into the case.
According to the non-governmental environmental organization Agent Green, Arthur was 17 years old and was the largest bear ever seen in Romania and “undoubtedly in the entire European Union”. The group cites the testimony of a Kovasna forest ranger in central Romania.
Bear hunting is banned in the country but Prince Emanuel was licensed to kill a female who allegedly attacked various farms last year, according to Agent Green and another animal welfare organization, VGT. The prince lives in Austria, where his family has a tower.
Environment Minister Tansos Barna confirmed to local media that permission had been granted, without naming the prince.
Gabriel Paun, a spokesman for Agent Green, said Prince Emmanuel had killed in March “a male bear that lived in the heart of the forest and had never approached nearby houses”. “It is obvious that the prince did not come to solve a problem that tormented the villagers but to kill a bear and take the trophy to hang on the wall,” he commented.
Romanian authorities have not confirmed the identity of the hunter.
“We knew a female was going to be killed, but we found a male,” he said, adding that an investigation had been launched, Environmental Police Officer Octavian Bercean told AFP, referring to “suspicions of poaching”.
The Liechtenstein princely house declined to comment on “a private, personal affair, the context of which it does not know” but emphasized that it “respects nature”.
Romania currently hosts about 6,000 brown bears, the largest population in Europe.
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