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A brown bear cub sits in the sun at Libearty, the largest brown bear sanctuary in Europe, on November 25, 2025 in Zarnesti, Romania. Romania's Carpathian mountains hosts Europe's biggest brown bear population outside Russia, with up to 13,000 animals living in the densely forested region. Bears have inhabited this area for millions of years and recent strict protection laws have contributed to their population growing. Climate change and diminishing habitat forces bears to forage for food closer to towns and village and along with the rise in sustainable bear tourism, bear encounters with humans have become more frequent sometimes with catastrophic consequences. In the past 20 years there have been over 20 bear-related deaths and over 270 reported injuries. In July this year an Italian tourist was mauled to death having taken selfies with the bears moments earlier.(Photo by Andrei Pungovschi/Getty Images)
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