RIGA, Mar 26 (LETA) - Latvia's brown bear (Ursus arctos) population is currently estimated at 30 to 50 animals, Janis Ozolins, a senior researcher at the Latvian State Forest Research Institute Silava, said at a conference on hunting Friday. 

"Seventeen specimens were identified in 2020, and three of these are the same animals that had been identified in the previous two-year period," Ozolins said, adding that most of the identified bears live in southern Latvia. The expert noted that these and other data suggest that there are currently around 30 to 50 bears living in Latvia. 

Ozolins said that a bear monitoring is conducted in Latvia based on four main criteria - area of habitation, the number of animals in particular territories, the state of the habitats and future prospects. A study that was carried out from 2015 to 2018 led to the conclusion that the situation for bears in Latvia was unfavorable. 

"Of course, the number of bears in Latvia is too small to consider it a population capable of self-reproduction," Ozolins said, adding though that the situation in Latvia is improving.