After the killing of a jogger by a female bear in early April 2023 in Trentino, Italy, the fear of bear attacks also increased in Austria. And it’s not uncommon for at least one bear to be sighted every year in the Alpine country.

So yes, there are wild bears in Austria.

However, as wildlife biologist Hubert Schatz told broadcaster ORF, Austria is “strictly a migratory country”. This means that there are no native bears that always have their habitat in Austrian forests. Instead, they migrate, particularly during the spring months.

Sightings of bears are, therefore, relatively rare when compared to other European countries where there are native populations. When an animal is spotted, it is safely followed by wildlife experts.

For example, in spring 2023, a bear roaming around in Lechtal, Tyrol, left numerous tracks, and local authorities recorded his progress through Austrian mountains and forests.  

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The bear was caught on camera causing property damage in a rural area while looking for food, and hunters found the remains of a deer it had eaten. “He just had a hunger,” said district hunter Martin Hosp, reminding people that this behaviour is normal for a large predator and that there are no indications that that particular bear could be a danger to humans. 

When an animal is sighted, its residues, such as fur hairs, are sent to Vienna, where experts start a DNA investigation to learn if it’s male or female and from which line – the goal is to check whether it comes from a particular “aggressive” family, with a history of attacking humans.

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How common are bear sightings in Austria?

According to WWF, bears are currently present only in the Karawanken, Carnic Alps, and Gailtal Alps in Carinthia and East Tyrol in Austria. However, as mentioned, those are mainly migrating individuals from the Slovenian population, though males from Trentino in Italy have also been recorded in the country.

They are estimated to be between five and eight male brown bears.

The Austrian bear population, which developed from the specimens released during a reintroduction project and the “Ötscherbär”, which migrated independently in 1972, has been extinct since 2011 in the country, the NGO said.

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In recent years, bears have appeared sporadically in other areas. For example, in 2008, a migrating bear reached Tyrol and became the first brown bear to winter in this region in 100 years. 

In spring 2012, Trentino bears named ‘M12’ and ‘M13’ made headlines, also in Tyrol. ‘KJ2G2’, a six-year-old bear also from Trentino and already detected in East Tyrol, Carinthia, and Friuli, migrated into the core area of the former Lower Austrian Ötscher bear population in April 2012 before making its way back and disappearing again near Donnersbachwald, in Styria.