The development reverses a long-standing official status. The IUCN Red List still classifies the brown bear as \u201cExtinct<\/a>\u201d in Lithuania, a designation based on the loss of the country\u2019s resident population decades ago due to overhunting and habitat loss. The birth of a cub suggests that status may no longer reflect reality.<\/p>\n Trail Cameras Captured an Adult Bear Weeks Earlier<\/p>\n The cub sighting came close on the heels of another bear event. In April 2025, a wildlife photographer named Marek Kislovskij checked one of his trail cameras in the \u0160al\u010dininkai district, near the border with Belarus. He found footage of a full-grown brown bear walking through the forest.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I came to check the camera, I couldn\u2019t believe what I saw at first,\u201d Kislovskij told LRT.lt<\/a>. \u201cI was really surprised to have captured such a shot and, of course, I was thrilled. At the same time, it was a bit unsettling to realize that a bear had recently been walking around in that same area.\u201d<\/p>\n Until that moment, he said, he had never heard of any bear sightings or even tracks in the \u0160al\u010dininkai district. The camera was placed near Gervi\u0161k\u0117s, close to the Belarusian border, on March 31.<\/p>\n The Source of the Returning Bears Is Estonia<\/p>\n The bears now appearing in Lithuania are not coming from nowhere. According to Harri Valdmann, an associate professor of zoology at the University of Tartu, Estonia\u2019s bear population has climbed to roughly 1,000 animals, the highest level in more than a century.<\/p>\n \u201cThese habitats pulse,\u201d Valdmann told ERR News. \u201cWhen the population is strong, it spills over to less suitable areas. There are a lot of bears now, and they reach as far as Latvia, which is not the case if numbers are low.\u201d<\/p>\n Latvia has not seen a re-established bear population. Its local bears were hunted to extinction by the late 1920s. Valdmann noted that while individual bears from Estonia occasionally wander into Latvia, a resident population has not taken hold because the Estonian population, while large, is not yet dense enough to sustain a permanent spillover further south.<\/p>\n Public Opinion in Lithuania Is Mixed<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/The-bear-Salcininkai-district.jpg.webp.webp\")
The bear \u0160al\u010dininkai district. Image credit: M. Kislovskij\/Screenshot<\/p>\n
![\"Eurasian,brown,bear,(ursus,arctos,arctos),is,one,of,the\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Eurasian-brown-bear-Ursus-arctos-arctos-1.jpg.webp.webp\")
Eurasian brown bear (Ursus arctos arctos) is one of the most common subspecies of the brown bear, and is found in much of Eurasia. Credit: Shutterstock<\/p>\n