More than 200 locals from Băile Tuşnad took part in a march on Friday evening in which they wanted to draw attention to the desperate situation they are in, in the context in which the bears are present in the resort every day, enter houses, boarding houses, or I walk the streets of the city, Agerpres reports.
People gathered at the ski slope in the resort, where, on Friday, several tourists filmed a bear cub looking for food.
Many of the protesters wore teddy bears or posters with the name of the town of Băile Tuşnad, superimposed on an image with a bear.
Also, several banners were displayed that read: “Everyone has the right to liberty and security”, “We support the initiative of Minister Tanczos Barna on the rapid initiative in the case of dangerous bears” or “Bears in the forest, not me indoors”.
The mayor of Băile Tuşnad, Butyka Zsolt, talks to people, encourages them and then expresses his helplessness in front of the press. He says the situation is desperate, people are scared, tourists don’t come to the resort anymore.
“It is a peaceful protest, a protest of despair, because in the last three months we have already arrived that we can no longer leave our homes or send our children to kindergarten or go to work normally. Unfortunately, the papers reach Bucharest, no one hears us and we march to show that we are terrorized, we live locked up between bears and everyone is desperate, they are terrorized, we don’t have any tourists immediately, because most of them cancel their reservations, they don’t come to the city anymore. they wanted to come, to walk through the forest, to run, to do sports, they don’t come anymore because they have nowhere to run or walk safely “, says the mayor.
People talk to each other, listen to the recommendations of the initiators of the protest and the gendarmes, those who are with them whenever the bears come to the resort, to drive the animals out of the locality.
Everyone present says that they have reached the end of their patience and, even if the bears were always present in the resort, the situation has now become unbearable.
“We have a lot of problems with bears, they come every night, they come in, we can’t sleep. He killed 16 birds, since then we are waiting to give us compensation, they promised us, but they didn’t give us anything. The number of bears is very big, we receive Ro-Alert messages, they wake us up every night and I have to go out, the dogs bark, we can’t sleep “, says Szocs Jozsef, a local from Băile Tuşnad.
Another man adds: “It’s not normal to live with bears, they go into houses, in the fridge, we can’t live like that. I don’t think it’s solved (after organizing the march – no), but what can I do, I do, the rest has to be done by politicians. We do what we can, but that is not enough. “
Among the locals is Molnar Csilla, a woman from the city whose bear destroyed the fence of the household and killed her dog.
“I’m here because I live under the forest and the bear has already given me enough trouble and I still haven’t received anything from anyone. The fence destroyed it, it still hasn’t entered the house, but the dog ate it. We have work to do with it. the bears that enter the houses, not with other bears. We don’t sleep anymore, we receive Ro-Alert messages every day. I don’t expect anything anymore, nobody pays attention to us, but for my peace of mind I came here “, says Molnar Csilla.
A stone’s throw from her is a man holding a teddy bear and a European Union flag.
“This teddy bear is a female and we already know that females, more recently, give birth to four teddy bears. And from those four teddy bears, in a year, four big bears will be made, which we have to fight with. We have been fighting for 20 years. with the bears, they come, they enter our house, they scare the guests, no one comes to Băile Tuşnad, I also do taxi and the world is very dissatisfied, at night people call me to take them on a distance of 300 meters. night in Băile Tuşnad, for about three months, not to enter any building. (…) It is said that we entered their habitat, why don’t wolves come, why don’t other animals come down, only bears “This is our essential problem, you can’t drive at night, you jump in the car, it’s an extraordinary danger. Who doesn’t live here, doesn’t know”, Nicolae Oprea complains.
He believes that the idea of the Minister of Environment, Tanczos Barna, regarding the rapid intervention in the case of bears “is exceptional”, because the number of bears has increased a lot.
Among the protesters was Szafta Tibor, holding a photo of a young man from the city, who in the spring was attacked by a bear in the area of the Station. He speaks a little, but wants to emphasize: “We want nothing more than to solve the situation and the only solution would be to feed the bears in the forest, not in the locality.”
An old man, with a bouquet of flowers in his hands, confesses that he went to the cemetery to remember the grave of a loved one, but he will join the march, because the situation cannot continue like this.
“The bear comes every night. We don’t leave the house much, if the evening has come, we don’t go out, but he also goes during the day. We don’t have the courage to go to the forest to pick mushrooms, because we can meet him everywhere “says Sallosi Anton.
Among the participants in the march was the Orthodox priest from Băile Tuşnad, Vasile Budeanu, who says that the parishioners are upset by the presence of bears, which is also unpleasant for tourists who come to the resort.
“The parishioners are quite upset, because as long as they enter the yard and the house it is unpleasant and this situation is not a good thing for anyone. Tourists are the most scared, because they come from other areas, where they have no contact with such animals and they are very afraid, first of all, of the situation that is created, especially in the evening.The man comes to the resort, wants to walk in the evening, in the cool, to make a tour of the resort and for fear of bears are needed to remain locked in accommodation rooms “, said the parish priest Vasile Budeanu.
After listening to the recommendations of the initiators of the protest, related to the pandemic context, the people divide into two groups and start a peaceful march, which crosses the entire resort. Columns of cars form behind them, but everyone is calm. From the sidelines, tourists support them, they would even like to join the protest.
“We are from Dolj County, every night we receive Ro-Alert messages and we would like to participate and say:” We want a resort without bears! “. After 8.30, 9.00 in the evening we do not leave the rooms, and you can not find hiking “Since I’ve been looking, I haven’t found anyone to go with in 16 days, everyone is afraid of the bear,” said a tourist who came to the resort for treatment.
Another tourist, from Cluj County, confesses that half of his vacation was compromised due to the presence of bears.
“Last night I met a bear weighing 500-600 kilograms, it was 150-200 meters behind the hotel. It’s dangerous, we can’t go hiking, you can’t bear the bears behind you. I came on holiday and I lost half the vacation, “the man said.
The locals participating in the protest reach the outskirts of the city and then continue their march, making their way back to the ski slope.
There, those present signed a petition that will be sent to the leaders of several institutions, from the Romanian Presidency, Government, Senate, Ministry of Environment, People’s Advocate and Romanian Academy, to the Institution of the Prefect and Harghita County Council.
The document presents the situation in Băile Tuşnad, which “is regularly frequented by bears, both at night”, which generates panic among both the population and tourists in the resort. It is also shown that the appearance of these animals is “more and more accentuated” lately and they no longer take into account the electric fences placed, the locked doors and windows, but also the presence of dogs or even people.
“Bears enter yards, houses, stables, shops, boarding houses, hotels, causing huge material damage and panic among the population. In addition, in recent years three people have been attacked by carnivores, who happily escape. Seeing the above, the undersigned, the signatories of this petition, declare that the situation has long been out of control, and all the inhabitants of Băile Tuşnad are desperate, full of fear and anger, worried to the utmost. As for our lives, the lives of our children, as well as the goods agonized over a lifetime by hard work and sweat, “the petition states.
Also, the signatories of the document consider that they are restricted by the rights regulated by the Romanian Constitution, respectively the right to life and to physical and mental integrity, the inviolability of domicile and residence, but also the guarantee and protection of private property.
At the end of the petition, it is requested to find those legal regulations through which to solve the problem generated by bears.
“At this zero point, until a bigger tragedy happens, we respectfully ask you to support and speed up the approval of the regulations on bear extraction interventions, even by shooting them,” the petition reads at the end of the petition.
After signing the petition, people head to their homes, but it doesn’t take long and they receive Ro-Alert messages again signaling the presence of three bears in a hotel area and on a street in the resort. Crews from the County Inspectorate of Gendarmes and the Ambulance Service went to the scene.
Present at the place of an intervention to drive away the bears, the spokesman of the Harghita County Gendarme Inspectorate, Gheorghe Suciu, said that so far 201 calls have been registered signaling the presence of bears in localities, of which 102 from Băile Tuşnad, these calls being received by the emergency number 112. Also, in Băile Tuşnad, Gheorghe Suciu also said, besides the calls to 112, there are quite frequent situations in which the gendarmes intervene either on their own initiative, because they notice the presence of the bear, or at the request direct of tourists or citizens of the city.
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