A prince from Liechtenstein's royal family is accused by environmental campaigners of shooting and killing the biggest bear in Romania, in violation of a ban on trophy hunting of large carnivores, BBC said Thursday.
The Austrian prince is reported to have "wrongly" killed Arthur, a massive 17-year-old male bear during a trophy hunt on a visit to Austria's Carpathian Mountains in March.
An investigation by Romania's national environmental guard is underway to determine the bear's death.
Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein was granted a four-day hunting permit in March in Romania's Covasna County, authorities said.
Tanczos Barna, Environment Minister, confirmed that a permit had been granted to get rid of a nuisance bear but did not provide details of who received it.
On March 13, the prince "harvested" the brown bear, for which he allegedly paid 7,000 euros ($8,400), the Associated Press, citing official hunting documents, reported.
Romania banned trophy hunting in the country in 2016 as the brown bear is protected by a directive from the European Union. But hunting is permitted for "problematic" bears that threaten humans and cause damage.
"But in reality, the prince did not kill the problem bear, but a male that lived deep in the woods and had never come close to the locals," The Guardian quoted the Romanian non-government organizations Agent Green and NGO VGT as saying in a statement.
Repeated attempts to contact the prince's royal residence were unsuccessful. According to Switzerland's Blick newspaper, the prince said he wouldn't comment on the matter.
"This is poaching as the prince shot the wrong bear, it was murder," Gabriel Paun, president of Agent Green, told AP.
