Inquisitive bear cub caught chewing on forest trailcam
A trailcam in Rapla County picked up a curious brown bear cub, which got its snout right up into the tree-mounted camera's lens, before practically attempting to "eat" it, Maaleht reported.
The Estonian hunters' society shared the whimsical video of the cub as it wandered up to the camera in curiosity, inspecting it for a short while.
After lightly chewing on the device, the animal can be seen to lose interest and turn tail.
Maaleht reports brown bears are known for their great curiosity and keen sense of smell, often investigating anything novel in their territory. It is not unheard of for them to try biting unfamiliar objects to find out what they are, more specifically if they might be edible.
Meanwhile further south in Põlva County, a bear was picked up by a private resident's surveillance camera, located in forest around 400 meters from the family's country home. Lõuna Postimees reported with a video.
As reported by ERR News, a recent high-profile "bear attack" has been unproven, even as the hunters' lobby group calls for a rise in cull quotas and permits to be issued out of season, arguing numbers are too high.
Heimar Lepiksoo, head of the hunting district in Väike-Maarja, where the recent disputed incident took place, said there are plenty of young, meaning around two years old, males ranging around, who have been driven out of the forest by more established males and have found themselves scrabbling around for an existence in small copses and alder groves.
Lepiksoo called for 10 off-season special permits, adding the local ecology is off-balance due to the unrestricted growth of bear numbers.
Some experts have said last year's African swine fever outbreak has been a factor, since it impacted the wild boar population also; the species forms part of bear and wolf diets.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
