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Bear that injured 5 during rampage shot dead, Slovakia officials say — but critics say the wrong bear was killed
Slovakia’s government on Wednesday said the bear that attacked five people in the country earlier this month was shot dead, as Bratislava drafted plans to ease bear cull restrictions. But opposition politicians said that a much smaller bear that had nothing to do with the rampage was actually killed.
The bear attack that left five people, including a 10-year-old girl, injured occurred in the center of Liptovsky Mikulas, a town nestled in the foothills of the Tatra mountains near popular ski resorts, the BBC reported.
“A bear that injured five in Liptovsky Mikulas was successfully shot dead yesterday… A biometrics drone was used to identify it,” the environment minister Tomas Taraba said on social media on Wednesday.
Bear attacks have been on the rise in the Central European country, with 20 such incidents last year, up from only eight in 2021, according to data from the environment ministry.
This month, a woman from Belarus died following a separate bear attack in the Demanovska Dolina valley area in Liptovsky Mikulas district, falling to her death from a cliff after being chased by the animal.
On Wednesday, the government in Bratislava approved a draft law to address the bear attacks in urban areas.
The proposal stipulates the creation of a 500-metre safety zone in the vicinity of towns and villages.
Any bear entering this zone could be shot, Taraba told journalists.
“Not only members of the special bear response team will be able to shoot, but also hunters, police officers, and, in national parks, also their administrators,” Taraba said.
The Slovak populist government earlier this month published guidelines on the protective shooting of brown bears, prompting backlash from environmental groups and the opposition.
Opposition politicians also claimed authorities had shot the wrong bear, accusing the government of using the issue ahead of the presidential election on 6 April, the BBC reported.
“According to documents written by the bear intervention team that we found, a 67-kilogram female bear was caught and killed,” Progressive Slovakia opposition party member Michal Wiezik said. “It is not necessary to use high-end biometrics to make it clear that such a shooting cannot be in any way related to the 100-kilogram male they were looking for.”
“I’m certain it’s not the same bear. It’s obvious,” Wiezik told the BBC.
On Monday, the Slovak environment minister, together with his Romanian and Finnish counterparts, appealed to Brussels for an EU-wide solution to the issue of bears threatening people, according to the local TASR news agency.
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A food company known for popular grocery store condiments has recalled a package of tortilla strips that may be contaminated with wheat, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday. The product is meant to be gluten-free.
Sugar Foods, a manufacturing and distribution corporation focused mainly on various toppings, artificial sweeteners and snacks, issued the recall for the “Santa Fe Style” version of tortilla strips sold by the brand Fresh Gourmet.
“People who have a wheat allergy or severe sensitivity to wheat run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume the product,” said Sugar Foods in an announcement posted by the FDA.
Packages of these tortilla strips with an expiration date as late as June 20, 2025, could contain undeclared wheat, meaning the allergen is not listed as an ingredient on the label. The Fresh Gourmet product is marketed as gluten-free.
Sugar Foods said a customer informed the company on Nov. 19 that packages of the tortilla strips actually contained crispy onions, another Fresh Gourmet product normally sold in a similar container. The brand’s crispy onion product does contain wheat, and that allergen is noted on the label.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
No illnesses tied to the packaging mistake have been reported, according to the announcement from Sugar Foods. However, the company is still recalling the tortilla strips as a precaution. The contamination issue may have affected products distributed between Sept. 30 and Nov. 11 in 22 states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
Sugar Foods has advised anyone with questions about the recall to contact the company’s consumer care department by email or phone.
CBS News reached out to Sugar Foods for more information but did not receive an immediate reply.
This is the latest in a series of food product recalls affected because of contamination issues, although the others involved harmful bacteria. Some recent, high-profile incidents include an E. coli outbreak from organic carrots that killed at least one person in California, and a listeria outbreak that left an infant dead in California and nine people hospitalized across four different states, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The E. coli outbreak is linked to multiple different food brands while the listeria outbreak stemmed from a line of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products sold by Yu-Shang Foods.