Page 13 - IAV Digital Magazine #621

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Hiker Dies After Bear Knocks Him Into 2,600-foot Ravine In Greece, Witness Says
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbl5lRCgHB0
A veteran Greek hiker died Tuesday after falling into a ravine in the north of the coun- try after a bear encounter, rescuers said.
Christos Stavrianidis was declared dead at Kavala hospital short- ly after he was found in the 2,600-foot ravine in Fraktou for- est in northeastern Greece, the Ekav national emergency center told AFP.
Stavrianidis was in the forest with anoth- er experienced hiker, Dimitris Kioroglou, when the incident happened on Monday.
"I suddenly saw a bear which attacked me," Kioroglou told news portal NewsIT. "My dog delayed it for a few seconds. I used pepper spray, and it headed to where my friend was and knocked him into the ravine."
Kioroglou told state TV ERT that Stavrianidis had run out of bear spray when the "very big bear" approached him.
"I've never seen such speed and such strength before," he told the outlet.
Panos Stefanou, spokesman for Greece wildlife group Arcturos, said the bear was likely
defending itself.
"This is more a defen- sive behavior, not an attack. The bear is trying to push back what it sees as a threat," he told TV ERT.
The hikers were heading toward the remains of a Greek warplane that crashed in the area some seven decades earlier.
Stavrianidis had found the plane deep in the forest last August. He was lead- ing efforts to identify a more accessible route to its location to enable more people to visit the wreckage.
"It's a beautiful dis- covery that deserves to be viewed on loca- tion ... the fuselage is nearly intact," he had told a local journalist last year.
"It's a treasure of nature and should be left (in the forest)," he had said.
Brown bears are pro- tected under Greek law, according
to Ursa Trails, which notes the biggest populations are locat- ed in the mountains of western Rhodopes and Northern and Central Pindos.
The brown bear pop- ulation is much denser farther north in Europe. Last month, Slovenia approved the culling of more than 200 brown bears, whose population in a forest- ed area outside the capital had grown to around 1,000.
Slovakia has also grappled with a surg- ing brown bear popu- lation as well as attacks on humans. In April, lawmakers approved a plan to shoot about 350 brown bears in Slovakia after a man was mauled to death while walking in a for- est there, the BBC reported.
Last year, a woman died in Slovakia after being chased by a bear through dense forest and mountain- ous terrain.
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