Nikola Mešter and Veljko Rnković say that today at around 10 am, on a local road in Gornja Morača, they had an unusual encounter with a bear, which, as they claim, only ended in minor injuries to one of them due to a lucky coincidence.
Rnković and Mešter were driving in a car on the road from Semolje to Dragovića Polje when a bear threw a stone at the vehicle from the upper side of the road. This broke two windows on the left side of the driver Mešter, and the stone injured the shoulder of the passenger Rnković. The bear, they claim, did not approach the vehicle.
"We were moving from Javorje towards Dragovića Polje. The bear threw a stone at the car, the windows were broken and it hit me in the shoulder. It could have happened that the stone hit the driver in the head and we could both have died. They would probably say later that we were driving fast or drunk, no one would have known what happened to us. The bear was about 50 meters away and did not come closer. Now we are at the place where it happened, the gamekeepers are with us and we are still waiting for the Kolašin police," Rnković told "Vijesti".
They stopped the damaged car, called representatives of the hunting club and the police.
In Montenegro, in recent years, more frequent encounters between humans and bears have been recorded, creating a dramatic image in the media and encouraging calls for culling. However, experts warn that the problem cannot be solved by hunting, but by education, property protection and functional intervention teams.
As Marija Iković, an expert associate for the conservation of large carnivores at the Center for the Protection and Study of Birds (CZIP), and biologist Aleksandar Perović from the Environmental Protection Agency told Monitor in June, the brown bear population is being managed without a scientific basis, there is no precise genetic research or accurate data on its abundance, and existing protection plans and crisis mechanisms are not being implemented. Climate change and human activities (waste, deforestation, construction in habitats) increase the possibility of encountering bears, while abandoned villages expand their range.
The Brown Bear Management Action Plan for 2025 envisages strengthening institutional coordination, habitat conservation, education, genetic monitoring, and clearly defined protocols for interventions, while culling remains the last option.
However, experts explain that implementing measures requires an adequate budget.
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