The inhabitants of the village of Galichnik in the mountains of West Macedonia have a serious problem with bears, and no institution is willing to help them, the locals complain, seriously concerned about their safety.

“The bears became so audacious that we meet them on the road, they come in the morning to our courtyards, entire families of bears, they search the garbage, there is garbage everywhere. Luckily, no one was hurt so far”, the inhabitants say.

They have officially asked the competent institutions for help many times since 2019, but none of them even responded.

They emphasize that, despite the fear among the local population, they object to any violent solution to the problem that would hurt the bears.