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After 19-year-old woman mauled to death, Romania authorizes the killing of nearly 500 bears
Romania’s parliament on Monday approved the culling of almost 500 bears this year in a bid to control the protected species’ “overpopulation” after a deadly attack on a 19-year-old hiker sparked nationwide outcry.
Last week, local media reported that a 19-year-old female tourist — identified by the Daily Mail as Maria Diana — was attacked and killed by a bear while she was hiking with her boyfriend.
“From the information we have, the bear attacked the young woman on the trail, dragged her into the vegetation next to the trail, and somewhere in this vegetation dropped her into a chasm and fell there. The bear came down after her,” Sabin Corniou, the head of Romania’s mountain rescue services, told CNN’s Antena 3.
The bear was killed after it reportedly tried to attack the rescuers.
Romania is home to Europe’s largest brown bear population outside of Russia with 8,000, according to the environment ministry.
Bears have killed 26 people and severely injured 274 others over the last 20 years in the southeastern European country, the ministry said earlier this year.
ANDREI PUNGOVSCHI/AFP via Getty Images
After the young hiker was mauled to death on a popular trail in Romania’s Carpathian Mountains, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu summoned lawmakers back from their summer recess to attend an emergency session of parliament.
As well as adopting legislation to control the brown bear population, the parliament held a moment of silence in the 19-year-old hiker’s memory.
The law adopted Monday authorizes the culling of 481 bears in 2024, more than twice last year’s total of 220.
Lawmakers argued that the bears’ “overpopulation” led to an increase in attacks, while admitting that the law will not prevent attacks in the future.
Environmental groups have denounced the measure.
“The law solves absolutely nothing,” World Wildlife Fund biologist Calin Ardelean told AFP, arguing that the focus should be shifted towards “prevention and intervention” as well as so-called “problem bears”.
According to WWF Romania, culls will not remedy the problem unless measures are put in place to keep bears away from communities, such as better waste management or preventing people from feeding animals.
In 2023, about 7,500 emergency calls to signal bear sightings were recorded, more than double the previous year, according to data presented last week by Romanian authorities.
Earlier this year, in Slovakia, a woman died after being chased by a bear through dense forest and mountainous terrain. Wildlife researchers previously estimated that the concentration of Slovakian bears was second only to Romania in terms of prevalence.
Reuters Photographer / REUTERS
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
National Park Service / Jacob W. Frank
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.
TRENTON, N.J. — Democratic Newark City Council President LaMonica McIver has defeated Republican small businessman Carmen Bucco in a contest in New Jersey’s 10th Congressional District that opened up because of the death of Rep. Donald Payne Jr. in April.
McIver will serve out the remainder of Payne’s term, which ends in January. She and Bucco will face a rematch on the November ballot for the full term.
McIver said in a statement Wednesday that she stands on the “shoulders of giants,” naming Payne as chief among them.
She cast ahead to the November election, saying the right to make reproductive health choices was on the ballot as well as whether the economy should benefit the wealthy or “hard working Americans.”
“I will fight because the purpose of politics and the purpose of our vote is to give the people of our communities and our nation a bold voice,” she said.
Bucco congratulated McIver on the victory in a statement but said he’s looking forward to the rematch in November.
“I am not going anywhere,” he said in an email. “We still have a second chance to make district 10 great again!”
Who are LaMonica McIver and Carmen Bucco?
McIver emerged as the Democratic candidate in a crowded field in the July special election. A member of the city council of New Jersey’s biggest city since 2018, she also worked for Montclair Public Schools as a personnel director and plans to focus on affordability, infrastructure, abortion rights and “protecting our democracy,” she told The Associated Press earlier this summer.
Bucco describes himself on his campaign website as a small-business owner influenced by his upbringing in the foster system. He lists support for law enforcement and ending corruption as top issues.
The 10th District lies in a heavily Democratic and majority-Black region of northern New Jersey. Republicans are outnumbered by more than 6 to 1.
It’s been a volatile year for Democrats in New Jersey, where the party dominates state government and the congressional delegation.
Among the developments were the conviction on federal bribery charges of U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who has denied the charges, and the demise of the so-called county party line — a system in which local political leaders give their preferred candidates favorable position on the primary ballot.
Democratic Rep. Andy Kim, who’s running for Menendez’s seat, and other Democrats brought a federal lawsuit challenging the practice as part of his campaign to oust Menendez, who has resigned since his conviction.