Ljubljana (Slovenia), April 17 (Inditop) Slovenian foresters used tranquilizer darts to capture a young brown bear after it wreaked havoc in the capital Ljubljana Thursday.
The first sighting of the bear was in a park at 4 a.m., but the search was called off eight hours later after forestry workers failed to locate the animal.
After the barricades were removed and the park re-opened, the bear again appeared and was eventually tranquilized 150 metres from the US ambassador’s residence and 400 metres from the Slovenian parliament.
The bear was apparently lured to the park by the scent of a captive female brown bear in heat, reports said. The wild animal was initially sighted at the gate of the zoo, located in the park.
The intruder must have walked from the hilly woodlands across the highway belt encircling the city. It was being examined by veterinarians and would be released back into its natural surroundings if it is found to be healthy.
Some 700 brown bears are estimated to live in the former Yugoslavian Alpine-Adriatic republic, which is roughly half the size of Switzerland.
