A restaurant in the north of Slovakia was supposed to serve a menu made from a shot bear. This was pointed out by the We are the forest initiative, with the fact that the Tatra restaurant has meat thanks to contacts from the Tatra National Park Administration (TANAP). The TANAP report clearly objected to these claims. In the case, the Slovak Environmental Inspection (SIŽP) has already accepted the initiative. At the same time, the initiative filed a criminal complaint for the shooting of bears carried out under the supervision of the State Nature Conservancy (ŠOP).
In an unspecified restaurant, according to the findings, they are supposed to offer customers initiatives bear goulash and a spread made of bear crackers. “We have serious doubts whether this activity is carried out in accordance with the law. It is surprising that the restaurant staff claims that contacts at the TANAP Administration are sufficient to obtain bear meat,” said Michal Haring from the We Are Forest initiative.
According to the activists, it is not yet clear whether the restaurant has all the necessary permits for such activity. According to them, the origin of the bear meat that Koliba serves to customers is also questionable. In this context, activists draw attention to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), adopted in 1973 in Washington.
“In Slovakia, trade in selected species of plants and animals is regulated, and it also applies to products derived from them. The law also precisely determines the conditions under which they can be traded,” explains the initiative, saying that the bear is protected regardless of whether it is alive, dead or products are made from it. According to her, only the environmental department can grant an exception from such protection.
The spokeswoman for the TANAP Administration, Nina Obžutová, said in this regard that they are not aware of such an offer in the restaurant in question nor that the offered bear meat comes from their hunting grounds. “To date, we have not applied for an exception to catch a single bear on our territory and we do not grant fishing exceptions. Only the Ministry of the Environment (MŽP) of the Slovak Republic has this competence. We emphasize that under no circumstances could we even grant an exemption for the sale of bear meat and products made from it, so we clearly want to defend ourselves against the connection about ‘contacts in TANAP’,” emphasized Obžutová.
In response to TASR, the MoE confirmed that they grant exemptions from the ban on commercial activities, which also includes trade in bear meatbut after meeting all legal conditions. “Currently, the ministry does not register a request for such an exception. The exception is usually granted to the seller who sells the specimen to the buyer“, the ministry said. SIŽP stated in a statement for TASR that it accepted the initiative in the matter, which was forwarded to the relevant inspectorate for inspection.
