Six years ago, coastal Lääne County did not have any groups of bears, but the last census revealed four sows with cubs, Eesti Päevaleht reported.

Peep Männil of the Environmental Information Center's game monitoring department said that the bear population was also up in the western part of Harju County

"This can be explained mainly by hunting: the hunting pressure has been low in these areas and no adult females have been bagged there," he said.

The two counties in the south that do not have bears - Võru County and Valga County - remain bear-free, however, as pregnant sows have been shot in short order.

Estonia is home to 650-750 bears, according to latest estimates.