Officials in southern Austria are investigating a potential series of bear attacks on hives after two apiaries were ransacked within days.
Police in Hermagor in the State of Carinthia announced that an apiarist’s backyard beehive was destroyed and pillaged.
The local police department added that the regional administration had been informed. Experts at the state government took samples to determine whether the case was linked to a similar incident in nearby Arnoldstein just a few days earlier.
Hermagor Police said about the latest looting: “The bear might have been disturbed as
just one of the beekeeper’s several hives was opened and emptied. The owner is confronted with damage worth several hundreds of Euros.”
There are more than 33,000 beekeepers in Austria, a country of nine million inhabitants. They currently manage around 456,000 hives.
Environmentalists say southwestern Austria is home to fewer than eight brown bears.
