Backyard Bears of Transylvania (2023)

[bunniefuu]

Bears...

..and humans.

An ancient conflict

that we have clearly won.

We love bears.

They're everywhere.

But we don't want them

in our gardens,

unless they're lit up.

Humans have banished bears

from most of Europe's forests.

But there are exceptions.

Romania for instance,

where people are at their wits' end.

The number of incidents is growing.

Sometimes with disastrous results.

Is there a future

for people and bears,

side by side in Europe?

Winter in Transylvania.

You'd expect brown bears

to be hibernating in their caves.

But here in the heart of Romania

be ready for surprises.

There's much

that defies expectations.

Two brown bear cubs brave the cold.

They show no sign of tiredness.

If they're not hibernating,

there can only be one reason:

They're getting enough food.

And in fact these two

have found an inexhaustible source.

Bears aren't choosy.

They'll eat whatever fills them up.

As soon as a bear

gets used to human foods,

conflict is inevitable.

How could this happen?

Most bears' lives

still begin far away from people.

In a distant valley

in the South Carpathian Mountains,

three tiny bear cubs

were born in their winter cave.

They've only just opened their eyes

and started to explore

their tiny world.

All they know is their mother's

warm fur, and her nourishing milk.

Our forefathers

once sought refuge in caves, too

and vied for their ownership

with terrifying bears.

15,000 years ago

the entrance to this cavern

in western Transylvania

was sealed by an earthquake.

When miners

broke through accidentally in 1975,

they found claw marks on the walls.

And then the astonishing revelation:

More than 140 skeletons

of cave bears.

The experts

were faced with a mystery.

Some skulls seemed

to have been laid out in patterns.

Were they used as cult objects?

Did fear and respect

for these all-powerful creatures,

make humans treat them as gods?

Even in modern-day Romania,

an age-old bear ritual endures.

In the nights around New Year

the boundaries between

human and bear all but disappear.

These dancers

are wearing real bearskins.

The power of the bear dispels the

evil spirits of the year just past,

making space for fresh beginnings.

Bear hunting

is now banned in Romania.

Many of these skins are held over

from the days

when things were different.

Ceausescu,

Romania's communist dictator,

was completely obsessed

by bear hunting.

They say he once shot

31 bears in a single day.

To indulge his blood-lust,

he ordered a bear-breeding

programme, unique in the world.

As soon as the cubs were old enough,

they set off on enforced travels.

They were released into the forests

in their hundreds,

as future trophies for the dictator.

Romanian bears no longer

need to fear trophy hunters.

And that makes

some of them overconfident.

In the winter I am a ski instructor.

I am going up to check the slope.

Stop, I see the bear.

I put my phone in the record.

In this time another skier coming.

Stop!

I hope the bear

is going into the tree.

But no, and I say to the people:

Make some noise.

But the bear is not impressed.

It continues coming to us.

Coming too close.

Eh what can I do?

The bear is not going.

Okay, come follow me.

If you catch me, try.

Just... a little bit crazy.

I am going down, down, down,

I see the people.

Oops.

"Atenzie camine ursu."

It's a situation very dangerous.

Okay, I stop the bear.

With the slope is clear,

I continue to go down.

Not very long distance

to the finish of the slope

the bear hears the noise.

Maybe he was thinking

the race is over.

He stays a little bit waiting

but after this

it is going to the forest.

This is the story.

What seems funny

can quickly turn serious.

This bear has lost

its natural fear of humans,

and thus becomes a danger.

Whereas our three cubs

are where bears should be:

deep in the dense

Carpathian forests.

They're tasting grass

for the first time.

They have no idea

of the culinary delights

awaiting them down in town.

The human world

is a fleeting fragrance,

a tempting aroma briefly caught

when the wind is right.

The forest is their home.

There's still danger here.

Male brown bears will always

try to k*ll their rivals' offspring.

That gives them a better chance

of siring their own.

But he won't approach our female.

These cubs are lucky

with such an experienced mother.

Shepherds on their way

to their summer pastures.

Grazing on Carpathian Mountain

slopes is ideal for their herd.

But this comes at a price:

On their trek they penetrate

deep into bear territory.

Petre Clem

has 300 sheep in his care.

Villagers trust them to him

for the summer.

If he loses a single one,

he has a problem.

Bears cause trouble. So do wolves.

It's difficult.

When it's raining and foggy

and the bear comes out

of the forest it's dangerous.

We have to get to the sheep fast,

or the bear will rip them apart.

Sometimes it's taken

two or three sheep in a single day.

As night falls,

the atmosphere is tense.

No sheep are allowed to run free.

We put them in the enclosure

every night.

We never leave them alone.

We would protect them with our

lives. They are our only property.

But whatever happens,

we have our dogs, and we are brave.

A Romanian shepherd

is never far from his herd.

Petre sleeps right next

to his charges.

His colleagues take first watch.

See? He caught a sheep.

Is he going to clear out

or will he eat it?

I think he's taking it away.

A fellow shepherd

from a neighbouring valley

took these pictures.

He's a real devil. If I caught him

I'd take an axe to him.

Yeah, yeah.

He'd be after you like a shot.

Dammit, he was here.

Now he's in the valley.

The dogs chased him into the river.

I know a bear is part of nature,

but we shepherds live in nature too.

We have to find our place here,

just like the bears.

If life in the mountains is to work,

we have to share the space.

I understand the people in the towns

who love bears

and want to protect them.

But living beside them

is very difficult.

Over the centuries shepherds and

bears have found a way of living

side by side in the mountains.

But what happens when

Europe's greatest land predator

moves into the human world?

This was some time ago:

I came into town to buy some stuff

and I met a friend

I hadn't seen for a while.

So, we went for a drink

and the two of us told each other

stories till late in the night.

Eventually I said: "Time for bed.

On the way to the apartment,

I saw strange shadows.

I thought they were people,

so I said: "Good evening!"

But they didn't answer.

What'd you think they were?

Two bears, my friend, two bears.

Looked like they were dancing.

Bears in the city? They live

in the mountains, not in the towns.

What's all that about? I'd rather

get back to the mountains.

Nocturnal visitors are rather common

in the small towns

of the southern Carpathians.

As soon as it gets dark

the streets fill with life.

Stop, stop.

Stop the car.

Can you hear them?

Laura Niculescu

and her husband George love bears.

They're out on patrol

almost every night, in spring.

Hardly anyone knows these animals

better than Laura.

And she has a mission.

There are a lot of people

that hate and don't like the bears,

because they think

they are aggressive.

But it's not like that.

I do a lot of filming.

I put them online in a page

to show them that the bears

are not aggressive.

If people learn

how to behave in front of the bear,

that would lead

to a peaceful coexistence.

The bears are here, but

it isn't always easy to find them.

Unless they leave a trace.

Look there is the garbage

on the floor. The bear was here.

We have to follow the dogs.

The dogs are nervous.

The bears can't be far.

Down there. Down there. Slow, slow.

Bears always look

for the easiest way to find food.

That's why

the cities are so attractive.

It's much harder

to find food in the wilderness.

So you see there is

a lot of garbage everywhere

and that attracts the bears

to the city.

You know,

like humans go to the supermarket

instead of looking for food

in the forest.

Same goes for the bears.

If they find easy food,

they go for it.

Under cover of darkness

our mother bear sneaks into town.

She's not alone.

She has her cubs with her.

This isn't

just about the abundance of food.

It's about adult male bears too.

They are loners.

They avoid company,

including human company,

and would rather spend

their time in the mountains.

So the town also protects the cubs

from hungry males.

Bears aren't the only ones

that appreciate the advantages

of an urban environment.

For the little ones,

everything smells new and exciting

and has to be tried.

Now they've had

their first taste of humans' food,

there's no way back.

Following their mother,

they'll connect humans with food

for the rest of their lives.

It's bound to lead to conflict.

There will be consequences for

our three bear cubs.

Over the coming weeks they'll learn

to adapt to the asphalt jungle.

Once foreign territory, the town

will soon be their playground,

food delivery service,

and finally their new home.

Meanwhile, Laura has caught up

with two old friends.

Look, look the brothers.

These are the brothers

from last year.

This is the second year they come

to this park in search for food.

The other one.

They are two years old

and always playing around.

There is a bin with pancakes.

They throw the leftovers

in the trash bins.

They are eating pancakes right now.

Stop! Dont go on.

Get back!

The bear is right in front of you!

Right in front!

The man there

wants to go to the bear.

An apparently innocuous situation

can quickly get dangerous.

It's coming.

It's coming on. No, too close.

No, no, it's dangerous.

Is the gate open? Come here.

Ah, the gendarmes are here.

When the RO-Alert comes they

come from the police, gendarmerie,

and they want to chase

the bear away.

The brothers aren't too worried

by the police's attempts

to intimidate them.

They've heard it all before.

Some Transylvanian towns see bears

almost every night in summer.

The police

answer calls as soon as they can.

But there

is only so much they can do.

The police aren't always sure

exactly what's happening.

On this occasion they've quickly

pinpointed the troublemakers.

Our bear family

have entered someone's garden.

This is high risk intervention.

Because babies do not know

how to handle the situation.

Maybe they go inside the garden

and because of the fence

they cannot go out.

And there is the possibility

that the mother

can be dangerous for the people.

After hundreds of years

of intensive hunting,

what frightens bears most, is noise.

It's the most effective way

to scare them off.

But the night is young.

It's much too early

to return to the forest.

In the maze of gardens

and narrow lanes

the bears easily shake off

their pursuers.

The potential food supply

is infinite.

The dogs can bark all they want.

Their dishes still get emptied.

In the search for easy meals our

mother bear has shed her shyness.

She strolls these streets for weeks

on end, growing increasingly bold,

thus adding herself

to the long list of "problem bears".

"Amazing pictures from Sinaia.

Bears chasing people."

"A moment of horror in Victoria."

"The Police recommend k*lling

dangerous bears."

"Two boys and a man

injured by bears.

Torn apart by a hungry bear."

- "Bears k*ll a shepherd."

Security cameras

record scary encounters with bears.

With at least 6,000 bears in Romania

theres always a risk

of an unwelcome confrontation.

When a bear gets aggressive

and resists all attempts

to scare it away,

it is declared a "problem bear".

In exceptional cases,

it may then be shot.

But first they'll try

to deal with it peacefully.

This bear is being relocated.

In some small towns

in southern Transylvania

the density of bears is so great,

the Police have permission

to move almost every one of them.

This time it's a young male.

The vet anaesthetises the bear

so it can't harm itself.

The sedative quickly takes effect.

The bear is weighed,

measured and given an ear-clip

so it can be identified later.

Then it's off on a long journey.

The idea is

to release the bear far enough away

so it can't simply come back.

And the area

must be sparsely inhabited,

so the bear

can't make trouble there.

In today's Romania,

that's a tall order.

Our mother bear and her three cubs

were also caught and released

far away.

When Laura heard about this,

she set off in pursuit,

and soon made a sad discovery.

Here is the blood ...

The blood of the mama bear.

Her cubs were after dog food.

And that sealed their mother's fate.

So the mama bear

always comes from the forest

and stay by here next to the forest

and the cubs go down

to the houses to eat the dogfood.

He called the authorities

to chase the bears from his yard

but they come instead

to k*ll the bear.

So when they sh**t her they chase

the little one in the forest.

And the other two

chased in the other park.

Normally there is a commission

that involves the major,

the vet, the hunters

and the authorities,

police or gendarmerie.

They all have to sign the papers

and agree to k*lling the mama bear.

This commander

didn't sign the papers.

So that's why it is a scandal.

When bears turn up out of the blue

the result is often chaos.

The authorities are under pressure.

People's lives are at stake.

And that doesn't make it easier

to take the right decisions.

It was a normal morning.

The phone rang. A bear.

In the centre of the city. Really?

A bear in the city?

But I am a journalist, got there

in something like 5 minutes.

And a lot of people,

a lot of police cars

and there was in a few moments

a bear on the roof.

The chaos continued because the bear

was very quick and very agile

in climbing on roofs

and nobody knew exactly

how should we proceed

when a bear comes in the city?

The local authorities didn't know

how to act. That's the main issue.

And they were misinformed.

They said it was a big bear.

"Stay at home there is a big bear."

It was not a big bear.

There was a hunter and he said:

"I have only b*ll*ts.

I do not want to k*ll him."

"k*ll him!"

- "No, I don't want to."

Nobody knew what should be done.

It was total chaos.

They finally

got him trapped in a yard.

They shortly decided

to sh**t the bear.

So the door was open

and I just got in

and I saw the small bear cub.

And I was

the only photographer there,

so I snapped as fast as I could

a few pictures.

I know it was confusion,

it was dangerous

but the image of that cub

was moving to say the least

and it moved a lot of people.

So things like this shouldn't happen

in our city or anywhere.

Because no bears should be shot.

Laura can't get

the orphan cubs out of her mind.

Their mother gone,

the cubs must be wandering,

lost and traumatised.

Laura knows exactly

where to look for them,

and sure enough:

Slowly, slowly.

Stop, stop, stop. Slowly, slowly.

Two of the cubs

are rifling the garbage bins

close to where

their mother was shot.

Like her,

they've become used to human food

and can no longer

go back to the food of the forest.

Laura knows perfectly well

what will happen then.

If she wants to save them,

she must do something now.

Many people in Transylvania

are spooked by

the bears in their neighbourhood.

Some would rather take the solution

into their own hands.

They feel abandoned

by the authorities.

You're all terrified of the bears.

Am I right, or what?

The bear in your backyard.

The bear out in the street.

I have children, man.

Can't you understand that?

If conflict is to be avoided,

people must adapt

their own behaviour to the bears'.

Not everyone is happy with that.

No one understands that better

than Bogdan Sulica.

He's a ranger with one of Romania's

biggest conservation organisations:

Carpathia.

If we see a bear

coming down in the village

we just go there with the dogs,

with weapons, with rubber b*ll*ts,

with all kind of stuff,

and ...

... we're trying to push him away.

Look up there at the pasture,

something up there,

right at the top.

It is difficult to make out.

Just some few young bears

coming to the fruit trees.

That's all.

Can you still see them?

- No, they're gone. Off to the left.

Everything's working out

for Bogdan today.

He sees himself as the link

between the people of the community

and the wilderness around them.

He knows that bears and people

get on best

when they leave each other alone.

His job is to make sure

it stays that way.

But it doesn't always work.

Hello Bogdan.

- Hello.

So, tell me: How we're going

to solve the bear problem?

What are we going to do?

One of the farmer's cows

has been attacked by a bear.

He chased the bear away,

but it was too late to save the cow.

The bear comes from there

and from there,

and from the street down there.

The b*stard came from there too.

So, you've got problems again?

- He keeps coming.

The loss of a cow

is a serious financial setback.

Bogdan can help

protect the rest of the herd,

once he confirms the cow

really was k*lled by a bear.

To do that, he has to find it.

Okay, bye.

- Bye. Bye for now.

Yeah,

usually it's much more difficult

to work with people

than with animals.

People do not want to live

with wild large carnivores,

so it is a lot of discussion.

In the past,

shepherds all time in spring

when they go up in the mountain,

they had 1000 sheep.

We go up in the mountains

with them but for sure

at least 50 are for bears and wolfs.

Now nobody is talking like this,

so they do not accept

to have some losses you know?

They do not really

want to pay a tribute to nature.

Bogdan has a simple but effective

way of protecting livestock.

So ... it is a thin line

between people and wildlife.

So, it is ...

Somehow it is impossible

to don't have conflicts.

But actually we do not know any case

when a bear goes

inside an electric fence.

An almost invisible strip of wire

solves the problem.

To stop bears looking for food

where humans live,

the food must be

put out of their reach.

Once sheep and cows are safe,

there's only

one last object of desire:

garbage.

Now we are trying to ...

... put another kind of bin,

with some lock thing

inside an electric fence.

It's not so expensive.

It's just an easy way

to prevent problems

with bears coming to the garbage.

I am totally sure it will be better.

One final test.

Autumn in the mountains.

Petre is taking his sheep

down to the valley.

The pastures stay

more succulent here for longer,

and the sheep are protected

from winter storms.

Bogdan knows Petre well.

Hi! How's it going Petre?

How was the summer?

- He took three sheep.

I found two of them,

but not the third.

Fences help against bears.

But in the mountains,

the sheep roam free in the daytime.

So Bogdan has another way to help.

Well, as we discussed.

I've brought the Carpathians.

Here's the male.

And the female. They are a couple.

Carpathian sheepdogs.

Especially effective against bears.

Bogdan's organisation breeds them

and gives them

to the shepherds for free.

Good luck. Let's hope

they grow really big and help you.

Thanks. So long.

If you ask me,

I would say yes, we need bears.

If you ask a farmer,

maybe he will say no or maybe

let's have some, but in the zoo.

But bears

are like a logo of our country

and if we have bears, we have

all the other species under this.

So yeah, we need bears.

The fate of our orphan cubs

has taken an unexpected turn.

One of the three has disappeared,

but thanks to Laura its

two siblings are no longer alone.

After we call the authorities they

took two days to catch those bears

and the association

took them to the sanctuary.

Yes, come on.

Come on, come to me.

Hi there.

I looked for you for seven hours.

What is it?

What is it, are you hungry?

They should be

out in the freedom, playing

but because

their mother was shot ...

... they are here in this enclosure.

The king of the forest,

reduced to a begging vagabond.

Is this the future

of Europe's last great predators?

Bears have disappeared

from most of the forests.

In some areas they are being

re-established. With difficulty.

Not everything

is perfect in Romania,

but at least this country

still has its bears.

Things aren't easy

for the people on the frontlines.

But they have proved by example,

that if

the right adjustments are made,

the age-old coexistence

of humans and bears

is still possible.

Untertitel-Werkstatt Mnster, 2023