site.btaBulgaria's First Community for Peaceful Coexistence with Bears to Be Established in Borino

Borino Municipality in the Rhodope Mountains (Southern Bulgaria) plans to establish a community for peaceful coexistence with bears, the WWF Bulgaria environmental organization reported. That would make Borino Bulgaria's first-ever municipality to implement the bear-smart communities model developed in Canada in the 1990s.

The steps for establishing the community were discussed at a meeting between representatives of WWF Bulgaria, Borino Municipality, the local community, the Smolyan Regional Inspectorate for Environment and Water, and forestry agencies. The meeting was organized by WWF Bulgaria as part of the Together for Nature project with support from the Swiss-Bulgarian Cooperation Programme. 

Alexander Dutsov of WWF Bulgaria told BTA that the idea is to develop a comprehensive pilot concept in Borino Municipality to prevent any conflicts with wild animals, particularly bears. Successful examples of bear-smart communities can be found in Canada, Italy, Romania, and Greece, he specified. These communities are based on a comprehensive approach that is coordinated with the local population, the municipality, and farmers, taking into account the interests of all groups.

Borino was selected for the pilot project due to problems with bear incursions in the area. As first steps, plans include installing video surveillance cameras in locations identified by local residents as conflict points. Other measures are installing electric fences, planting fruit-bearing trees, and putting bear-proof mechanisms on garbage containers.

Bear attacks in the Borino area and in Smolyan Region this summer have not been as numerous, according to data from the Smolyan Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water and information from Alexander Dutsov. More problems with this protected species in the mountainous region have been observed in previous years, when food supplies from fruit-bearing trees were scarce due to climate anomalies. Climate change and global warming also contribute to the escalation of human-bear conflict, Dutsov explained.

In recent years, there have been extreme temperatures and precipitation, as well as very warm winters, which have affected the availability of fresh water for drinking and agriculture, as well as the flowering and fruiting of many trees and shrubs, added Dutsov. According to his projections, in the future we can expect significant waves of wildlife migration toward areas with more fresh water or greater biodiversity of trees and shrubs.

The problems with bears in the mountainous region are also linked to the depopulation of villages, the overgrowth of former pastures, and the formation of new forests that border people’s old homes. This brings nature closer to the settlements themselves and creates conditions for numerous fires, Dutsov told BTA.