Slovak restaurants can serve bear meat

According to Felvidék.ma, organizations under the Slovak Ministry of Environment will be entitled to sell the meat of problem bears after they have been shot, if all the required conditions are met.

Filip Kuffa, State Secretary of the Ministry of Environment, wrote on social media on Monday that the meat of every bear classified as problematic and legally killed can be consumed.

“Bear meat is edible and can be sold within the appropriate legal framework,”

– the State Secretary said, according to the newspaper.

Those who want to sell bear meat further, for example to catering establishments, are required to obtain a so-called CITES certificate, which certifies that the individual was shot legally and allows restaurants to offer dishes made from the meat.

Filip Kuffa added that the process is completely legal, and that all parties involved – organizations that kill bears and restaurants that serve bear meat – will have the appropriate permits.

“With this statement, the state secretary admits that the ministry allows trophy hunting,”

– Marián Hletko, an activist with the initiative We Are the Forest (My sme les) responded to Denník N, adding that this also proves that it is not about removing problematic individuals.

“Which foreign guest would come here to shoot a container bear on the edge of a village?”

– the activist asked.

The article in the online newspaper ujszo.com also stated that the Ministry of Environment has authorized the shooting of 103 brown bears since October last year, and according to Filip Kuffa, 23 specimens have been killed so far, and the ministry wants to shoot a total of 350 animals.

Several civil society organizations have filed a complaint against the ministry, as Slovak and European legislation only allows the killing of specific problem individuals, not mass shootings, they wrote.