In recent weeks, several incidents of bears visiting people's yards have been reported, as well as filmed and shared online. The Environmental Board has issued a special permit to hunt two bears born last year because the bears have returned to people's yards after being scared away.

Peep Männil, chief wildlife specialist at the Environment Agency, said hunting depends on the number of animals in the wild, but this is currently no longer the case with bears.

However, a recent court ruling found conflicts with the Habitats Directive, as the bear is a strictly protected species in the European Union. No country has an exception.

In recent years, new rules have reduced the number of bears hunted in Estonia.

"In 2024, 101 bears were actually hunted, which was also, as far as is known, the largest number of bears ever hunted, but last year those court rulings already took effect quite early in the hunting season. Around 32 bears were hunted, and this year the number probably cannot be much higher either, and may even be lower," Männil said.

The court dispute has mainly focused on whether the Environmental Board has sufficiently justified the hunting of bears and whether other preventive measures have been used to prevent conflicts before bears are shot.

Männil said the growth of the bear population would be halted if at least 150 animals were hunted per season.

Last year, according to the Environment Agency's estimate, there were at least 1,100 bears in the wild in Estonia. There are no figures yet for this year, but the number of bears has likely increased.

"Since hunting was also very modest last year, the bear population has grown by about 5 percent a year over the past 10 years," Männil said.

In its estimates, the Environment Agency relies on data obtained from hunters across Estonia as well as data it collects itself.

"Every year, we identify different female bears with cubs born that same year. There may be a small margin of error there, meaning we may not be able to find all the female bears. In fact, what we provide is an estimate of the minimum population; it may be slightly larger," Männil said.

Marko Vinni, hunting adviser at the Estonian Hunters' Society, said the bear population is increasing every year because court rulings have created obstacles to carrying out traditional bear hunting.

Vinni said the hunters' estimate that there could be around 1,500 bears in the wild is not an exaggeration.

"If the Environment Agency has said that 300 bear cubs are born here every year, and if bear hunting has in fact not taken place here for the previous two years, then simple mathematics tells us that if, according to the Environment Agency's estimate, the bear population has been around 1,000 animals for the past couple of years, then adding the cubs born in the spring over three years should give us 900 animals. Natural mortality must always be taken into account as well, but even if we take a rough figure of 200 bear cubs that could be added to our population in the wild each year, we still get 600. The hunters' estimate of 1,500 animals in our wild – I don't think that is an exaggeration," he said.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!