The intervention team for the brown bear killed a teddy bear in the Low Tatras on Saturday morning, which was moving around Trangoška and the tourist route to Milan Rastislav Štefánik’s Cottage. TASR informed Kristína Bocková from the State Nature Protection Agency (ŠOP) SR that the bear lost shyness and endangered visitors due to the irresponsible behavior of tourists. She reminded that it was a four-year-old female weighing 62 kilograms, for which the intervention team of the SOP SR recorded repeated reports and complaints. The animal also moved around the Cave of Dead Bats. According to Bocková, it was also close to accommodation facilities, hotels and boarding houses. In recent days, it has occurred in the mentioned localities permanently, she confirmed. The SOP recalls that the reason for the bear’s movement in these places was the search for easily accessible food near people. It was also the persecution of tourists associated with the enforcement of food. “We have long pointed out the inappropriate behavior of people who feed bears in order to shoot a video or obtain an attractive photo. The bear thus gets used to easily accessible food, connects humans with the food source and loses shyness, “the conservationists emphasize, adding that unsecured biological waste from gastronomic establishments also causes a similar problem. They also state that the bear’s behavior was assessed as dangerous because it was a threat to tourists and visitors to the Low Tatras. “The eventual capture of this individual and its relocation was not appropriate,” they explain, adding that he would probably return to the site or that his habits and behavior would be repeated in the new area. Bock pointed out that it was not even possible to place the problem bear in the facility. She was used to free life in nature and would not adapt to artificially created conditions in captivity. “It was the first killing of a troubled brown bear by the intervention team this year,” she added.