Two small teddy bears captured in the forests of Šilut han have been puzzled: will brown bears return to Lithuania?

Young bears were caught

The Šilutė and Pagėgiai district newspaper Šilokarčema shared a video on Facebook, which is really hard to believe: its readers saw two bears playing in the forest on the phone.

“Reader Alma sent a video with two little teddy bears to Šilokarčema. The woman’s cousin filmed them in Bear Forest. Or did someone else see them?” The newspaper asked in its publication.

After the post, some residents commented on a possible bear near Kvėdarna, others joked that the mushroom season is already closed, and the Meškinė forest already says by name that bears simply must live there.

A bear was seen a month ago.

Romas Gečas, director of the Šilutė regional branch of the state forestry company, says that the last time a bear was seen in the area was 7 years ago, but that story is still rumored. He was told on the way by a woman who was driving from Sauga to Švėkšna. At the time, there was no evidence and it was hard to believe that it was possible to see an animal that had not lived in the country for a long time.

However, only recently, for the first time in many years, a bear was recorded in the Šilutė district. About a month ago, the Oak Hunters’ Club video cameras did it. The bear reached the place where the beasts were feeding.

R. Gečas says that it would be brave to say that this bear brought her young to Lithuania, but everything can be. “Latvia and Belarus are really full of bears, and Lithuanian forests are no different from the forests of these countries, unless the forests of those countries are bigger. Bears are more cautious, they need security. I think he could have brought us bears too. Lithuanian forests are suitable for mating bears and keeping teddy bears, if the animal has found peace, why not? ”, He comments.

Vidas Mauricas, who filmed the bear that appeared in the area on May 20, says the distances are short, so it could be the same bear whose cubs were spotted in the Bear Forest.

This year – 9 bear cases

This year, the Lithuanian population has observed several bears walking through the territory of the country. For example, Vita, who lives in the Molėtai district, shared a photo of a bear’s footprints on Facebook almost two months ago. At a single farm near the town of Pagaluonė, a family who had spent time noticed a bear through the farm window.

In mid-May, the bear was also caught by video surveillance cameras at the Švenčionys border firewall. He arrived from Belarus and returned to Lithuania after spending the day in Lithuania.

2021 According to data from June 22, this year there have already been 9 cases of bear appearances in Lithuania: 2 of them were recorded in Utena county, as well as 2 cases were detected in Šilutė district municipality, one once in Kaunas, Vilnius, Klaipėda, Panevėžys and Rokiškis Counties.