ROB CAMERON

The government in Slovakia says the meat from every brown bear killed under a nationwide cull will from now on be offered to pubs and restaurants, rather than destroyed. Last month, the populist-nationalist cabinet authorised a plan to shoot about a quarter of the country’s 1,300 bears in response to a number of high-profile attacks, several of them fatal.

A wandering elk spotted at dozens of locations across Central Europe this summer has been captured by authorities in Austria and released in forests close to the Czech border. The elk, nicknamed Emil, was tranquilised by wildlife officials on Monday after straying dangerously close to a motorway in Upper Austria. It’s hoped he’ll now settle in the Czech Šumava forest.

The Slovak government has approved a plan to shoot around a quarter of the country’s brown bears, after a man was mauled to death while walking in a forest. A total of 350 out of an estimated 1,300 animals will be culled under the plan. “We can’t live in a country where people are afraid to go into the woods,” Prime Minister Robert Fico told reporters after a cabinet meeting.

Czech beavers made global headlines earlier this year when it emerged they’d saved taxpayers millions by building a series of dams that created an area of wetland – exactly what local authorities wanted to achieve with a project that had got bogged down in a legal dispute. The meadow – in the Brdy protected nature area – is now the perfect habitat for amphibians and rare crayfish.

A brown bear that injured five people during a rampage in a Slovak town has been shot dead, Environment Minister Tomas Taraba says. However, opposition politicians believe hunters may have shot a different bear, and are calling for answers. Controlling Slovakia’s bear population has become a highly politicised issue under the new populist-nationalist government.

Police in Slovakia have fined a car owner whose dog was caught on a speed camera sitting behind the wheel. The owner of the Skoda car insisted that his pet – a brown hunting dog – had suddenly leapt into his lap. It’s not clear if the fine – issued to the owner, rather than the dog – was for speeding, or for failing to secure the pet in a moving vehicle.

Police in the Czech Republic are seeking information on a stolen racehorse allegedly belonging to Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov. Zazou, a thoroughbred worth some £17,000, disappeared between Friday evening and Saturday morning. The 16-year-old bay was reportedly one of two of Mr Kadyrov’s horses still stabled in the Czech Republic.