Athens - Greece's environment ministry plans to construct barriers and will make use of electrified wire along sections of a highway in the northern part of the country to prevent road deaths among the local brown bear population, reports said Thursday. "To avoid such accidents we will put up a strong fence as soon as possible and set up electrified fencing at spots frequented by bears," Environment Minister Giorgos Siouflias was quoted as saying in the daily Kathimerini newspaper.
Siouflias, who made the statement following talks with conservationists, said until the fences and wires are set up there is to be a constant monitoring of cars whose flashlights scare the bears near the side of the road.
"The bears have certain habits and until they learn to change them we must guide them," he said of the dwindling protected bear species.
Conservationists have increased pressure on the government to protect brown bears after two were found dead on roads in May.
Statistics have shown that 19 bears, out of a population of approximately 200, have discovered killed in the past decade.
