18 March 2024 , 15:35
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Terrifying footage shows a wild brown bear rampaging through a town before attacking five people - leaving two victims in hospital.
A woman, 49, sustained an injury to her shoulder, while a man, 72, is currently being treated for a cut on his head, after the pair were attacked by the animal in Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia, situated near the Tatra mountains. Local reports state how police pushed the bear out of town and forced it into a forest following the frightening attack. A state of emergency has been declared in the area.
New footage of the bear on social media shows the beast running down a main road and past what appears to be a public green area. Meanwhile, another horror clip shows the moment the bear dashes across a zebra crossing as terrified citizens flee the beast. It is then spotted leaping through a green area before returning to the streets and setting its sights on a man.
The man being chased could be seen scaling a fence in terror as the bear ran towards him, before he quickly clambered over the barrier. And in a stomach-churning moment, the footage appears to show the man making it over the fence just in time - before the rampaging bear lunges at the fence in anger. A 10-year-old girl and two further adults suffered scratches and bruises, authorities said, while a couple pushing their child in a buggy were “lucky to escape unharmed”.
People have since been asked not to leave residential areas. And, calling on residents to exercise maximum caution especially in the early morning and evening, a statement from the local town hall said: “The bear has been pushed into uninhabited zones by rescue and security forces where emergency teams … have orders to eliminate it.”
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“Hunters will patrol in the at-risk area, police patrols have been strengthened and brown bear emergency teams from all over the country have been ordered to our city and surroundings. A thermal imagine drone is also being deployed. We are a town between mountains, but still a town. We cannot allow a bear to attack five people in the centre in broad daylight.”
New footage of the bear on social media shows the beast running down a main road (Uncredited)It comes just one day after a woman, 31, died after she and her friend were set upon by a brown bear in the Eastern European nation. She was walking with a male companion in the mountains when the animal reportedly set upon them. The body of the 31-year-old, from Belarus, was discovered by the Slovak Mountain Rescue Service on Friday. The bear was still nearby and scared away by warning shots from a gun.
It remains unclear exactly how the woman died - whether she fell to her death or was killed by the bear, say the BBC. Local police are investigating the circumstances. A government minister said if the bear was responsible the authorities would make the information public. According to the male companion, the pair were walking in the Low Tatras mountains on Friday evening when the bear chased them.
A state of emergency has been declared in Liptovský Mikuláš, Slovakia after the bear left the town (Uncredited)They fled in different directions into the thick forest and steep ravines. The woman's body was discovered by the Slovak Mountain Rescue Service on Friday evening, as the bear lingered nearby. Local reports stated the bear was soon frightened off by sounds of the gun shots made by the rescue team. It is not the only reported bear attack in recent years.
A fatal incident was recorded in 2021 - the first in Slovakia for a century. Bears are widespread across the Carpathian mountain range which stretches from Romania through Ukraine to Slovakia and Poland. The population is stable at around 1,275 but some in the new populist Slovakian government say EU laws for wolves and bears are granting them too much protection.
The Environment Ministry is planning to present a proposal at the next EU Council to reclassify bears on the protected species list. It says they are no longer endangered and can be selectively culled.