Biological conservation at risk in Slovakia: Brown bears under attack of autocratic pressures

Recent governance changes in Slovakia have allowed extensive brown bear removals while reducing expert involvement. These developments raise concerns about long-term management and consistency with EU conservation standards. The case underscores how political context affects conservation outcomes. The European brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) is one of the apex predators in Europe, including Slovakia. As a scavenger, it plays an important role not only in ecosystems, but it reduces the spread of serious infectious diseases, especially zoonoses and sapronoses (Vicente & VerCauteren, 2019). Brown bears are strictly protected species in the European Union. The current approach of the Government of the Slovak Republic to brown bear management—including the involvement of the army in bear removal (Malovcová, 2025), downplaying illegal hunting through administrative reductions in the officially assigned social value of bears from EUR 5000 to EUR 2500 (Decree No. 423/2024 Coll., 2024) and offering meat from killed bears to restaurants (Noviny, 2025)—is alarming. The situation has broader context than the management of a single protected species in a small Central European country. This situation appears to be linked to threats arising from the disruption of the democratic institutional balance and the loss of expertise in the field of nature conservation. For brown bears, this may impact the broader Carpathian population, with potential negative consequences for ecosystems more generally. As human–bear interactions increase, conservation efforts and scientific research are focused on promoting coexistence (Lamb et al., 2023; Pop et al., 2023). Achieving this goal, however, requires public support or at least social acceptance, which can be difficult to secure (Nesbitt et al., 2023). The brown bear population is often disturbed, not only by tourism, but also by other activities in forest complexes associated with logging, road transport, or hunting (Hertel et al., 2025). This has also led to a conflict between brown bears and residents in Slovakia (Sivulič et al., 2025). These situations had been addressed by the implementation of preventive measures and the capture of brown bears involved in human–bear conflicts (Fig. 1). Since the elections in September 2023, Slovakia has been ruled by a populist and nationalist government. Recent developments in Slovakia reflect growing autocratic tendencies, particularly using autocratic legalism: the strategic use of legal means to erode democratic checks and balances. This has weakened horizontal accountability among institutions, reducing oversight of government actions and positioning Slovakia as a “watch list autocratizer” country (Hanley & Cianetti, 2024; Nord et al., 2025). The findings indicate that key policy areas, including environmental protection, have experienced diminished regulatory independence and increased political interference. Similar processes have been observed in other political regimes affected by autocratization (Dutta & Nielsen, 2021; McCarthy, 2019; Menezes & Barbosa, 2021). This political transformation is notably affecting the Slovak Ministry of Environment and the Slovak State Nature Conservancy, key governmental institutions specializing in environmental conservation. Over 50 experts have been removed from relevant positions, weakening institutional credibility (Reich & Petková, 2024). Legislative proposals harmful to the environment (numerous attempts to amend the Nature and Landscape Protection Act and to reduce the conservation status of protected areas) have been introduced without expert consultation (Enviroportal, 2024; TASR, 2024). Important roles are increasingly filled by individuals, especially hunters without conservation expertise (Mäkká, 2024). An illustration of recent developments in Slovakia's environmental governance is the replacement of directors in seven of the nine national parks, five of whom come from hunting backgrounds and lack conservation experience (Stop persecution, 2024). Most concerning is the appointment of a new director of the Tatra National Park. This director had been previously fined in 2014 for illegally shooting a wolf (Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic, 2024). Following these governance changes, the shooting of brown bears has been authorized under the designation of a local “emergency situation,” a legal mechanism typically reserved for crises such as earthquakes or terrorist attacks (Law No. 127/2024 Coll., 2024; Law No. 42/1994 Coll., 1994; Law No. 543/2002 Coll., 2002). Between 2019 and 2023, a total of 31 brown bears exhibiting altered behavior were removed by the Slovak State Nature Conservancy. This number significantly increased in 2024, with 93 brown bears being killed under the auspices of the same institution (Figure 2). Despite the large-scale removal of brown bears in Slovakia in 2024, six more attacks were recorded in early 2025, suggesting that reducing the bear population does not necessarily decrease human–bear conflicts (Artelle et al., 2016). On April 2, 2025, the Government of the Slovak Republic announced that 350 brown bears would be culled (Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic, 2025). Since 2024, reports suggest that brown bear removals in Slovakia have occurred without identifying specific problem individuals or adequately considering non-lethal technical and economic alternatives (Štefanková, 2024). If accurate, such practices would raise concerns under Article 16 of the EU Habitats Directive, which permits lethal control of strictly protected species only when no satisfactory alternatives exist, the action serves a legally defined purpose (e.g., public safety or prevention of serious damage), and the species' favorable conservation status is not compromised. As a result, international experts and organizations have expressed serious concerns in a formal letter to both the Government of the Slovak Republic and the European Commission (Boitani & Hechtel, 2024). Shooting brown bears has a significant effect on their population, influencing survival rates, reproductive behaviors, and social structures. These disruptions can impact overall fitness, population growth, and dynamics. Potential negative consequences include higher rates of sexual infanticide, lower cub survival, and behavioral shifts, such as changes in habitat use, foraging habits, and daily activity patterns (Frank et al., 2017). If current management directions continue, there is a risk that the conservation status of brown bears in Slovakia may deteriorate, with possible longer-term implications for population viability and ecosystem dynamics. These risks were also highlighted in a subsequent letter from international experts drawing attention to this issue (Kalaš, 2025). Recent developments in brown bears' management in Slovakia appear to indicate that the removal of institutional controls and environmental expertise, combined with autocratic legalism, may be contributing to a serious deterioration in wildlife management and species protection. These autocratization processes pose not only a threat to the political order but also manifest in ways that may initially appear purely biological. Facilitated by the nationalist regime ideology, it results in lower conservation outcomes (Jones et al., 2025). The developments in Slovakia illustrate how political and institutional dynamics can influence conservation outcomes, emphasizing the importance of integrating governance considerations into biodiversity risk assessments. Michal Haring conceived the study and wrote the manuscript. Dušan Janák, Martin Kovanič, and Ivo Pavlík contributed to the conceptual development of the manuscript, wrote, and provided critical revisions. This research was funded in the Czech Republic by IGA FRDIS Mendel University in Brno Grant No. 23-017 and in Slovakia by VEGA Grant No. 1/0187/24. Michal Haring is a member of IUCN Bear Specialist Group and a member of The International Association for Bear Research and Management. In the past, he served as Head of the Bear Intervention Team North in the State Nature Conservancy and as a Zoologist in Tatra National Park in Slovakia. The data used in this study are derived from publicly available sources cited in the manuscript.