i’m not sure if it actually made it to international news, but there’s a brown bear (ursus arctos arctos) called bruno [wiki] roaming through tirol and bavaria.
the first wave of enthusiasm* vanished when bruno started killing sheep etc., and now they’re trying to catch him and …deport him, basically.
* after all, this species hasn’t been seen in austria & germany in …some time!
a team of finnish hunters that specialize in bears have arrived two weeks (?) ago, and have been trying to track him down with dogs.
i was asked to pick up the reinforcement team last sunday: matti myllynen and his dog raiku (newspapers called the dog a “finnish superstar”) and i gave him a lift to the “mission base” in bavaria.
when we drove past a ” germany – world cup country 2006″-sign, matti asked
matti: now we’re coming near the border?
me: that was it, welcome to germany!
matti: wow, i expected at least two hours of waiting and inspections.
while i was out there, i made a short trip to the natural reserve in hinterriss and eng. it’s located in the austrian risstal valley, which can only be reached (by car) by going through germany.
bear-hunter-photos will be added later on, as i was asked to not make them publicly available yet… (see thumbnail-link)
other photos will be uploaded …sometime soon.