Senate approves doubling of bear hunting quota. How many copies will be able to be shot in 2026-2027

Deputy Prime Minister Tanczos Barna, former Minister of the Environment, announced on Wednesday that the UDMR initiative, which provides for the doubling of the harvest quota for the bear, in the period 2026-2027, was adopted by the Senate, and the project will go to the Chamber of Deputies. The normative act provides for the annual harvesting of a number of 859 brown bears, informs News.ro.

“At the initiative of the UDMR, the Senate voted to double the harvest quota for the management of the brown bear population. The genetic evaluation completed last year confirmed what we have constantly signaled in recent years: the dangerous overpopulation of bears, the expansion of their habitat and the need for preventive interventions,” Deputy Prime Minister Tanczos Barna, former Minister of the Environment, wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.

The vice-premier states that, based on the study, the UDMR proposed a proportional harvesting quota, which would keep the bear population under control, protecting human life and agricultural activities.

“If the Chamber of Deputies also approves the legislative initiative, in the period 2026-2027, 859 brown bears will be able to be harvested annually, for preventive purposes,” announces Tanczos Barna.

He states that, in recent years, “UDMR was the only organization that consistently supported the protection of human life in the issue of bears and that implemented a complex package of scientifically based management measures.”

“This includes immediate intervention, compensation for the damage caused by the bear, support for the purchase of electric fences, the reintroduction of hunting, as well as the carrying out of scientific evaluations of the brown bear population,” says the deputy prime minister.

The initiative was adopted, on Wednesday, by the Senate, with 69 votes “for”, 10 “against”, 17 abstentions, and one senator did not vote.

At the end of 2025, the Ministry of the Environment announced that the genetic analyzes carried out in a study on the brown bear population in Romania indicate that it is, in a conservative scenario, between 10,657 and 12,787 individuals, with a high genetic diversity.

“This study is not an academic exercise nor a tool for extreme decisions. It is, first of all, a responsible, balanced management tool that allows us to protect people, prevent conflicts and, at the same time, conserve an important species”, explained Minister Diana Buzoianu at the time.