The EU protected species is the meat of a protected species in the EU after the populist government approved the sale plan.

Last month, the cabinet authorized a plan to respond to some recent fatal encounters to shoot a quarter of the country's 1,300 brown bears.

The state-mandated massacre has been criticized by protectionists and opposition politicians, including in the European Parliament. Brown bears are listed as a "near-threatening" species in the EU by the World Conservation Union.

However, the Slovak government is developing the plan ahead of schedule, announcing this week that it will sell the meat of bears to the public to prevent waste.

Starting next week, Organizations under the Ministry of Environment can provide meat for sale if all legal and sanitary conditions are met.

Gov. Filip Kuffa said the animals were previously sent to a carcasses to disposal facilities.

"We will release every shooting animal that meets certain consumption criteria. Why? Because bear meat is edible," he said.

After the number of encounters with humans increased, bears have become a political problem in Slovakia, including deadly attacks.

Slovakia ranks second in Europe, behind Romania, with an estimated attack from about 13,000 brown bears.

The country reported a total of 54 bear attacks in 2000-2020. The rough data suggest that the average number of attacks on average also increased to 10.

In April, a man was abused to death while walking in the forests in central Slovakia.

Not long after, Prime Minister Robert Fico announced the elimination, saying: “We can’t live in a country that is afraid to enter the woods.”

He said his government will shoot 350 brown bears, a figure for the species' entire population in Spain.

His administration argued that the problem of overpopulation of bears led to the attack.

But environmental groups and critics say the focus should be on prevention.

Michal Wiezik, an ecologist and European Parliamentarian of the progressive Slovakian Party, told the BBC government last month that it has failed to limit the "number of attacks" through unprecedented phase-out of the protected species.

Wiezik argued that there were no incidents in the thousands of contacts each year and he hoped the European Commission would intervene.

Miroslava Abelova of Slovak Greenpeace called the plan "completely reckless" and accused the government of ignoring protection laws and scientific advice.

Brown bears are strictly protected under EU Directives and are only killed in special circumstances (such as threats to public safety).

Bear meat is usually not eaten in Europe and is considered a delicious dish only in some regions, such as Eastern and Nordic countries.

In most EU member states, strict hunting rules and the protected status of bears mean that meat is rarely available. If so, it usually comes from controlled culling or licensed hunting, not found in restaurants or stores.

Where bear meat is consumed, health officials warn that the risk of caterpillars - a parasite that can cause serious disease in humans.

EU food safety regulations require all bear meat to be tested before caterpillars can be sold, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention internal cooking temperatures are at least 70 degrees Celsius to kill parasites. Freezing, smoking, or drying meat does not make it safe.