Romania has increased its bear-culling quota to 900, almost double the previous limit. The nation is home to the most number of brown bears in Europe, with a preliminary multi-year DNA study estimating the number to be between 10,000 and 13,000—about half of Europe's brown bear population.
Legislators made the move despite many critics, as bear hunting is a way of regulating the brown bear population. Some 30 deaths have been attributed to bear attacks in the last 20 years in Romania, incidents that experts say are largely preventable.
