Responding to concerns that bears will get used to visiting animal feeding sites, and simultaneously become accustomed to humans, Haralds Barviks offers reassurance: “Forest animal feeding sites will certainly not encourage bears to get used to humans. I am more concerned that bears will soon realise that in Latvia, unlike in Estonia, bears are not hunted. That could indeed increase these predators' interest in humans and inhabited areas. There are around 1,000 bears in Estonia, and there have been no attacks on people, but it must be taken into account that our neighbours cull nearly 10% of the population, which is around 90 bears.”

I would say that it is better for bears to come to the forest animal feeders set up by hunters, rather than destroying beehives or heading to pastures. For instance, there are several regions in Russia where they have to coexist with a large number of bears, and there such feeding sites are quite effective in reducing the risk of damage.”