Legally Carried Handguns Stop Two Brown Bear Attacks in Slovakia

Slovakia map in public domain 

While researching bear/human conflicts, two more incidents were found where Slovakians used handguns to successfully defend themselves against European brown bears (Ursus arctos).  Slovakia is one of the central European countries which have adopted statutes so that people can legally carry handguns for defense of self and others. The area of both attacks is located about 20 km north of Banská Bystrica, just north of central Slovakia.

On March 30, 2024, a young man was searching for mushrooms in dense forest in the district of Žilina, near the village of Stráňavy. He was off the hiking trail when a brown bear charged him. Fortunately, he was carrying a handgun, and fired at the bear, stopping the attack. Members of the Slovakian State Nature Conservancy quickly investigated. They assembled a team including members of the local hunting associations and local police, and hunting dogs. The team was able to trace the bear involved.

During the search, the bear attacked the hunters, who were forced to fire at the bear. The Slovakian account does not specifically say if the bear was killed. The local account does not identify the handgun or ammunition used in the defense.

On October 29, 2025, two National Park workers were in the field inside the Great Fatra National Park, in the district of Ružomberok, near the village of Liptovské Revúce.  The two workers, a man and a woman were unexpectedly attacked by a European brown bear. The man was carrying a legal handgun. He fired several times at the bear until the bear fled the scene. The two park workers were not injured. The incident was immediately reported to the police and the official Team to investigate brown bear incidents. When the team searched the area of the attack, the found a dead brown bear. The bear was an old bear. It weighed about 290 lbs.

 Grizzly bear in mountains, public domain

Because of increasing bear numbers and bear attacks, Slovakia has proposed a cull of 350 bears out of a population estimated at 1300.  This would be about 27% of the existing bear population. Brown bears, ursus arctos, can increase their population by about 18% per year, if they have sufficient food supplies. In areas with significant human populations, access to human produced foods on farms and ranches supplies much more food than would be available in most untouched wilderness. Brown bear populations have been increasing over much of their range, from Europe to areas near Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in the United States.

In 1972, a commission considered a population of 300-500 bears to be an “optimal” level for Slovakia. A paper published by the Slovak Wildlife Society and funded by the World Wildlife Fund indicated there were about 800 European brown bears in Slovakia in 2007. The bears are concentrated in the central mountainous region of Slovakia. The factors considered to arrive at the optimal level were not published. In 2015 a Slovak source published that genetic research from 2013-2014 indicated a population level of between 1000 and 1500 bears in Slovakia.

Brown bear populations have been increasing over much of their range, from Europe to areas near Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks in the United States. Along with the increases in bear populations, there have been increases in bear/human conflicts. Governments around the world are now facing the challenge of balancing local residents desires to be safe in the forest with international and urban pressure not to kill bears or reduce their populations. Japan has started to take aggressive action to limit bear populations in response to record numbers of people killed by bears in 2025.

©2026 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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