Protection falls under the EU Habitats Directive; the state argues moving the spcies from Annex IV to Annex V in the directive would make it easier to regulate bear numbers – the directive predates EU enlargement which took in countries which have bear populations, compared with the western European nations which hmostly don't

Climate Ministry hunting adviser Aimar Rakko names the likely allies: the nearby nations of Finland, Sweden and Latvia, as well as Poland, where bears have attacked people with fatalities, Slovakia, Romania, where people have died in bear attacks too, and Croatia, Slovenia and other Balkan countries.

No official application has been drafted yet — Rakko says about 10 countries could potentially band together, adding while the issues may get talked about, the political and social dimension makes decisions harder, as not all are open to more hunting.

The obstacle is partly the bear's image, Timo Kark, head of the Climate Ministry's biodiversity department, noted, saying: "Whereas the wolf is the wicked character in fairy tales — remember 'Little Red Riding Hood' — the bear has a completely different image:one of a cute teddy bear."

Kark says the process will in any case be lengthy and will require a majority of member states to prompose changse to the Berne Convention, which mus must then be adopted by the convention's parties, and only then can the Commission propose amending the directive's annexes — which in turn member-state support again.

Slovakia, with at least 2,500 bears and 106 attacks in ten years that killed four people, is backing Estonia's push, while Slovenia — about 1,000 bears and 20 attacks — supports talks without an official position, and Romania has doubled its cull to 969 bears a year, against a population estimated at 10,419 to 12,770.

Rakko traces the impasse to 1992, when the directive was written for member states with small or no bear populations — the countries with more bears, among them Slovakia, Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia and Finland, all joined later — and he dismisses relocation as a fix, since Estonia's forests are too small, the animal is back within a day or two, and moving it only shifts the problem to another region at the state's expense.

The wolf was moved from Annex IV to Annex V directive, the move being called for for the brown bear too, since July last year.

The original Maaleht piece is here.

Of the 28 current and former EU member states, 15 have bear populations, in some cases only in very small numbers, while more than half of these states are EU enlargement nations.

Background:

Since April this year, bears in Estonia can only be culled with a special permit from the Environmental Board for problem animals, which hunters say has effectively canceled the annual bear hunt.

The board issued permits for 30 "problem" bears this autumn and hunters killed 10, against an Environment Agency recommendation of up to 150.

The second-tier Tallinn Circuit Court suspended the remaining permits in September pending a ruling on a challenge by NGO Eesti Suurkiskjad, which argues the state does not actually know how many bears there are.

Estonia's bear population has in any case been estimated at around 1,100, roughly double what it was 20 years ago,; the board says human-bear conflicts are now near-daily.

A recent claimed bear attack in Estonia which got widespread media coverage was very likely a false report.

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