Bear guilty of stealing honey

Updated: 17:53, Friday, 14 March 2008

A Macedonian court has convicted a bear of theft and criminal damage for stealing honey from a beekeeper.

1 of 1 Bears Fond of honey
Bears
Fond of honey

A Macedonian court has convicted a bear of theft and criminal damage for stealing honey from a beekeeper.

The irate beekeeper initially fought off the attacks with thumping 'turbo-folk' music.

Zoran Kiseloski said he tried to distract the bear with lights and music because he had heard bears are afraid of that.

Mr Kiseloski bought a generator, lit up the area and put on songs of (Serbian 'turbo-folk' star) Ceca.

The bear stayed away for a few weeks, but came back when the generator ran out of power and the music fell silent.

A court in the city of Bitola found the bear guilty, and since it had no owner and belonged to a protected species, ordered the state to pay the 140,000 denars (€2,243) damage it caused to the hives.

The bear vs the beekeeper took a year in court to decide.

The whereabouts of the bear remain unknown.

Live Player

  • Next
  • 08:05 - 08:15

    news2day

  • 13:00 - 13:25

    RTÉ News: One O'Clock and Weather

  • Later
  • 13:00 - 13:45

    RTÉ Radio - News at One (Studio Webcam)

  • 16:25 - 16:35

    news2day