A brown bear was seen late Wednesday in the centre of Loimaa, a town of 15,000 between Turku and Tampere. Police say there have been an upswing in such incidents in southwestern Finland this spring, with the population growing briskly.
The police were informed via the local emergency call centre shortly before midnight.
According to Inspector Markku Kuisma of the Southwest Finland Police Department, the bear was first seen swimming in the Loimijoki River, which flows through Loimaa.
"After that, the bear climbed onto the riverbank and left the area through an area of single-family detached homes," he said. It was then seen by several eyewitnesses running through a residential district.
Kuisma said that while it is rare for a bear to be seen in Loimaa, there have been an exceptionally large number of bear sightings recently in Southwest Finland. In just the past month, they have been seen in residential areas of Salo, Paimio and Kimitoön.
"A wild sight"
Janina Hakala, a resident of Loimaa, managed to get a video of the animal, which she saw on a street near a school and on a lawn area in the town centre around 11:20 pm.
"It was a wild sight, I’d never seen a bear before," Hakala told Yle.
She said the bear seemed a little scared to be lost in the urban area – and then left the same way it arrived.
"After filming the video, we saw the bear swimming across the Loimijoki River," she said.
10-20% population growth
According to the Finnish Wildlife Agency, female brown bears in Finland typically weigh 45–170 kg, while males can weigh up to 230 kg.
Last month, the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) said Finland's bear population has been growing by 10-20 percent annually in recent years. It estimated the bears population at about 2,400. However the number fluctuates as animals move back and forth across the long border with Russia.
Also in April, the government asked Parliament to approve amendments to the Hunting Act that would make it easier to hunt bears and other large carnivores. Conservation groups have sharply criticised the plan.