The 55-year-old was traveling with another person in a forest area near the village of Hybe when the bear attacked, a police spokeswoman told the online edition of the Sme newspaper.
The rescue helicopter team was able to locate the seriously injured man in the impassable terrain and lowered a paramedic to him with a winch.
“However, during the attack, the bear had hit one of the main arteries of the man’s lower extremities, causing severe bleeding and cardiac arrest,” the rescuers’ report said. The mushroom picker succumbed to his injuries on site.
Second fatal bear attack since 2021
This is the second fatal injury inflicted on a human by a brown bear in Slovakia in recent years. The last time an incident of this type occurred was in 2021, also in the Liptov region in the east of the country.
It is estimated that there are around 1,300 brown bears in Slovakia. They prefer to live in the mountains or in dense forests. Several dozen of them have recently been released for shooting because they have lost their fear of humans or have become a danger to the life, health and property of citizens.
Localization – This is where the accident happened:
