Slovenia has one of the largest brown bear populations in Europe and brown bear numbers have been rising steadily. The latest research shows that bear numbers will hit a record level this spring.

Genetic census estimates put the number of brown bears in Slovenia at 695-797 at the end of 2023, which means that the population has increased by about a quarter since 2015.

This figure comes from an analysis of bear scats during which 656 individual bears, 261 males and 395 females, were identified at the end of 2023. The genetic sampling was additionally verified with the catch-mark-recapture method to arrive at the final number of 737.

"This is the low end of the estimate, whereby the recorded bear mortality is already included in the figure. It is valid until a new generation of cubs is born. If we compare the result with the previous two counts of this kind, in 2007 and 2015, we can see that the population has been increasing roughly linearly over the last 16 years," the Hunting Association has said.

At the end of 2015, there were between 545 and 655 bears, compared to 383-458 at the end of 2007.

Professor Klemen Jerina of the Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, using data on bear removals, extrapolates that the Slovenian bear population ranges from 880 to 1,050 this spring, which proves the Slovenian bear population is in a very good condition.

Culling a key population control tool

Since bears reproduce successfully culling has long been used as the principal population management measure approved by scientists and forest managers.

But every year green groups oppose the cull with the argument that the law allows culling as a measure of last resort, but Slovenia applies it indiscriminately as a population control tool.

The authorities have been striving for a manageable cohabitation between humans and bears, and looking into other possibilities to prevent human-bear conflict, such as relocations in the wild or captivity, but argue that bear numbers are simply too high to prevent serious damage and ensure the health and safety of humans.

According to scientists, 800 is a figure high enough to make the brown bear population viable, and low enough to minimise human-bear conflict.

Primorska motorway a major barrier

The Slovenian brown bear population is concentrated in the densely forested but sparsely populated south of the country, but as their numbers rise bears tend to disperse wider and venture ever closer to human settlements.

Indeed, in recent years bears have dispersed widely, most notably in the Zasavje region, just east of Ljubljana. In the Alpine region only males have been detected.

The genetic study shows that the brown bear population in the west of the country has stopped growing in the last ten years, with only 45 different individuals (21 females and 24 males) recorded on the northwest side of the coastal highway during the entire sampling period.

Of these, only nine were detected on both sides of the motorway, which suggests that the Primorska motorway is a major barrier to the passage of bears between the Dinarides, which is their primary range, and the Alps.