A female Eurasian brown bear in a file photo from Slovenia. The image does not show the bear killed in Prespa. Credit: Charles J. Sharp / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0. CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo source.
A young female brown bear was found shot dead in Prespa National Park in northern Greece, according to the Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency, known as NECCA. The bear, estimated to be about two years old and weighing more than 60 kilograms, was discovered on the morning of October 27 near Vrontero in the Municipality of Prespes. A visitor alerted the park’s management unit.
Staff from the Prespa National Park and Western Macedonia Protected Areas Management Unit, the Florina Forest Directorate and the environmental organization Callisto went to the site. A private veterinarian was called to perform a necropsy. The examination found three gunshot wounds on the animal’s left side. Two wounds in the left thigh were not fatal. A third wound in the lower abdomen caused extensive internal bleeding and killed the bear. The findings indicated that the shots were fired from relatively close range, NECCA said.
No suspect or motive had been announced as of Saturday morning. NECCA and Callisto called the killing a serious environmental crime that should be investigated by the authorities and the courts.
A protected corridor between Greece and Albania
The area around Vrontero is an important wildlife corridor for bears moving between Greece and Albania. It sits within a landscape where Greece has recently expanded Prespa conservation protections, making the killing especially significant for cross-border wildlife management.
Brown bears and their habitats are strictly protected under Greece’s Forest Code, the European Union’s Habitats Directive, the Bern Convention and CITES, the international treaty governing trade in endangered species. Killing or injuring a brown bear is a criminal offense in Greece.
The case follows earlier shootings of bears in northern Greece and other incidents that have required cross-border wildlife response. Conservation groups say illegal killings remain a major threat even as monitoring and veterinary care have improved. Greek organizations have also developed specialized brown-bear conservation work for injured animals.
Prespa’s role in a regional bear project
Prespa National Park is one of the areas included in the EU-funded LIFE DinPin Bear project. The program brings together 20 organizations in nine countries across southeastern Europe: Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Kosovo, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia.
In Greece, the project is implemented by NECCA and Callisto. Its work focuses on reducing habitat fragmentation, managing encounters between people and bears, improving cross-border monitoring and building support in local communities.
The project’s regional scope reflects how bears move across national borders. A killing in the Prespa corridor can therefore affect more than one local population, while an investigation depends on Greek forest and judicial authorities.
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