In March, one such individual, Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein, an Austrian prince, claimed Arthur’s scalp, paying a reported 7,000 euros for the privilege.
According to Agent Green, a Romanian NGO which campaigns to preserve the country’s natural environment, Prince Liechtenstein took part in a hunting trip that was ostensibly arranged to find and kill a female bear believed to be responsible for damage caused to farms in the village of Ojdula, in Covasna county in central Romania.
Despite the ban on hunting bears, exceptions are occasionally granted for the sake of controlling the bear population, and to deal with bears that are perceived to pose a threat to human life.
BBC News
By Paul Kirby
image copyrightAgent Green
image captionArthur was the biggest bear in Romania and probably the whole of the European Union
Environmental campaigners suspect a Liechtenstein prince shot dead probably the biggest bear alive in the EU on a hunting expedition in Romania in March.
They say Prince Emanuel von und zu Liechtenstein had been granted a permit to shoot a female bear that had caused damage to some farms.
But it was not a female that was shot but Arthur, a 17-year-old brown bear.
The prince who lives in Austria has not yet responded, and the BBC s attempts to reach him have been unsuccessful.