Romanian Brown (Grizzly) Bear Population, Attacks and Hunting

Romania in green image public domain 

Romania has the highest brown (grizzly) bear population in the European Union, and the highest number of fatal bear attacks. Russia has many more bears, including more in the European part of Russia, but most Russian bears are in Asia.

A study using DNA, started in 2022 and finished in 2025, is the most accurate measurement of Romanian brown bears to date. The study shows a brown bear population of between 10,419 – 12,770 brown bears in Romania. This is about twice the previous thought number.

In 2021, estimates of the brown (grizzly) bear population ranged from 2,000 to 10,000. From rferl.org in 2021:

 The official number of brown bears in Romania is over 6,000. But the government is not actually sure of the number, and environmental groups argue that it might be as low as 2,000. Hunting associations say the number could be as high as 10,000.

The study was conducted, in part, because of the increasing number of brown bear attacks. From phys.org/news/2025:

The new study—launched in 2021, with the EU contributing 11 million euros ($12 million) in financing—concluded between 10,419 and 12,770 brown bears live in Romania, while authorities say the optimal number is 4,000.

“We can state for the first time in the history of Romania with a solid scientific basis how many bears we have in the forest,” environment minister Mircea Fechet told a press conference.

(snip)

 Over the past two decades, bears have killed 26 people in Romania and seriously hurt 274, according to 2024 data.

The actual number was over 10,000. 11,000 is a reasonable estimate. If we assume 1,500 bears to start, and a growth rate of 10.5%,  the number of fatal attacks per 1000 bears per year is .26. There are more than 10 serious brown bear maulings with severe injuries in Romania for every fatal attack recorded in Romania.

If we assume a population growth of 7% per year, with a starting population of 3,000 bears 20 years ago, we reach a current population of 11,600 bears in 2024. There were 26 fatal attacks over the 20 years or about .20 fatal attacks per 1000 brown (grizzly) bears per year.

The differences are not great. We do not know the initial number with precision.

Romania banned trophy hunting of bears in 2016, but has allowed limited hunting. About 1400 bears were harvested from 2016 through 2020, or about 280 bears per year. This is about 3.5% of the population per year for the period. If the population was increasing at 10.5% per year, 3.5% harvested would leave a 7% increase in the population. In 2023, Romania increased the bear harvest quota to 484 bears. Assuming a population of 10,000 bears, it is only a 4.84% harvest. To reach stability at 11,600 bears, about 1,100 to 1,300 bears need to be harvested each year.

Most of the bear hunting in Romania appears to be over bait, from well maintained permanent blinds. Much of this bait hunting may be at night. In Sweden the bear harvest is about 9% or more as they work to reduce the brown (grizzly) bear population to the desired level. Most bear hunting in Sweden is done with a trained dog. Sweden has had only 2 fatal bear attacks from 1977 to 2016. This calculates to about .011 fatal bear attacks per 1000 bears per year in Sweden. Sweden has had continual legal hunting of brown (grizzly) bears since 1943.  Romanian brown bears are about 20 times as likely to be involved in a fatal attack than are Swedish brown bears.

Does hunting with dogs teach brown (grizzly) bears to be wary of people, so they avoid humans? It seems likely.

©2025 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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