Brown bears extinct in Austria

There are no more brown bears to be found in Austria, say European wildlife conservationists, despite the fact that neighboring Slovenia has a stable population of about 400 bears. "Unfortunately there is no bear left in the Northern Limestone Alps," said Christian Pichler with WWF Austria. "The last bear, Moritz, which was born in Austria could not be found in 2011. The sub-population is deemed to be extinct." The bears in the Northern Limestone Alps originate from a WWF Austria augmentation project that released three bears in the Northern Limestone Alps between 1989 and 1993. The location was chosen because one single male bear had naturally come to the area in 1972. Between 1989 and 2010 at least 35 bears have lived in this region. "WWF Austria was working more than 20 years on this project to bring back bears to Austria and to the Alps. One reason why we failed was poaching, more than 20 bears are missing. But another reason was the small founder population," said Pichler. The brown bear population in the border triangle region between Austria, Italy, and Slovenia is connected to the large population of bears in the Dinaric Alps. Bears, mostly young males, disperse from the core southern Slovenia area toward the Alps. The numbers of bears that reach the Alps is dependent on the Slovenian hunting regime, conservationists explain. Over the past 10 years Slovenian hunting quotas have risen because bears have created conflicts with beekeepers and stockbreeders. "At present 12-15 individuals are estimated to range in the border triangle," said Pichler. "Approximately five to eight bears of these individuals inhabit Carinthia, a province in the south of Austria, but no reproduction was recorded there."