A restaurant in the Tatra Mountains served bear specialties. She faces a heavy fine
People go to the Tatra Mountains not only to admire beautiful views, we also often want to try local cuisine and relax in a mountain restaurant. One of them recently served a controversial dish.
The brown bear is a protected species under national and international legislation. It turns out that this does not stop some people from poaching. One of the restaurants in the Slovak part of the Tatra Mountains surprised everyone with its dish. There has been a lot of talk about bear stew.
A bear dish in the Tatra Mountains
An unusual discovery occurred in Tatranská Štrbá in Slovakia. One of the local restaurants there sold bear delicacies to guests, including: goulash or lard with cracklings from its meat. No one knew where such dishes came from, but one thing was certain, the company lacked a permit to sell products from a protected species.
The situation can clearly be described as a scandal. The restaurant defended its dishes and assured that the bear meat came from an animal killed outside the Tatra Mountains. Interestingly, in Slovakia, dishes made from protected animals, including bear meat, are allowed for sale if the ministry consents. Before that, the meat must pass a veterinary inspection. However, these didn’t have it.
Ecologists took up the matter
Animal and nature conservation lovers quickly publicized the case and decided to act. Michał Haring, on the initiative of We Are the Forest, reported a possible crime organization We sme les. He noted that in Slovakia there have been many shootings of bears under the supervision of the State Nature Conservation Office of the Slovak Republic. This is criticized by environmentalists. The actions, for which the Slovak Minister of the Environment, Tomasz Tatarba, is responsible, are expected to result in weakening the protection of large predators in the country and an increase in the illegal trade in meat of protected animal species.
“It is very likely that the bear meat served by the restaurant comes from illegal hunting,” Michał Haring told the sme.sk portal. He pointed out that the representative of the mentioned establishment revealed that “to obtain bear meat, contacts in the management of the Slovak Tatra National Park are enough.”
In turn, the spokeswoman for the TANAP administration, Nina Obžutová, immediately denied the information that the bear meat offered in the restaurant came from TANAP areas.
Despite TANAP’s assurances that it has nothing to do with the restaurant, it is known that the bear situation is worrying. In April, Slovakia Ministry of the Environment relaxed regulations on the management of the brown bear population. This led to shooting dozens of these animals over the course of several months.
Given that the Tatra restaurant did not have a permit to sell bear meat, it faces a financial penalty ranging from EUR 1,500 to EUR 5,000.
