歐洲野生動物組織（European Wildlife）保育專家表示，「即使在鄰近地區斯洛維尼亞有400頭熊的穩定族群，奧地利的棕熊還是絕跡了。」
世界自然基金會奧地利分會的Christian Pichler表示，「不幸的是，北萊姆斯通阿爾卑斯山（Northern Limestone Alps）已經沒有熊的蹤跡，最後一隻出生於奧地利的熊Moritz在2011年都沒有被發現，而這個次族群被認為已經滅絕了。」
北萊姆斯通阿爾卑斯山的熊源自於世界自然基金會奧地利分會的復育計畫，該計畫在1989年至1993年間在北萊姆斯通阿爾卑斯山地區釋放了三頭熊。
選擇該地區是由於一頭命名為Ötscherbär的單身公熊在1972年因自然原因來到該地區。在1989年至2010年間，至少有35頭熊在這個地區生活。
Pichler表示，「為了讓棕熊回到奧地利與阿爾卑斯山地區，世界自然基金會（WWF）奧地利分會進行這個計畫已經超過20年了。我們失敗的原因是盜獵，有超過20頭熊失蹤了。另一個原因則是創始者種群（founder population）太小。
奧地利，意大利和斯洛維尼亞邊緣三角地區的棕熊族群連接著迪納拉阿爾卑斯山（Dinaric Alps）的大族群。棕熊個體，主要是年輕公熊，從斯洛維尼亞南部向阿爾卑斯山地區擴散。
保育專家解釋道，阿爾卑斯山地區熊的數量是仰賴於斯洛維尼亞的打獵制度。而在過去10年間，因為熊與養蜂人和畜牧業者間的衝突，斯洛維尼亞已經提高了打獵配額。
Pichler表示，「目前在三角地區約有12至15頭熊，其中有5至8頭居住在奧地利南部的克恩頓（Carinthia）省，但尚無繁殖記錄。」
在歐洲，有10個族群，近14000頭棕熊分布於西班牙西部至俄羅斯遠東地區，斯堪的納維亞半島北部到羅馬尼亞和保加利亞南部間的地區。法國的棕熊極度瀕危，中歐地區幾乎沒有野生棕熊，而不列顛群島則沒有棕熊。
歐洲野生動物組織在比較奧地利，匈牙利和捷克與鄰近國家的保育現況後，於今日發表聲明，歐洲大型食肉動物的復育工作因為這三個國家而受到阻礙。
歐洲野生動物組織認為，這三個國家形成了一個界線，使得關鍵物種無法推進。例如，在匈牙利並沒有熊，而匈牙利東邊的羅馬尼亞，擁有5000至6000頭熊。匈牙利北邊的斯洛伐克，則有800頭熊。
歐洲野生動物組織的Dalibor Dostal表示，奧地利，匈牙利和捷克在打擊盜獵熊，狼和猞猁的工作一直沒有良好的成效。並歸咎於警察並沒有逮捕和懲罰大多數的盜獵者。
建立一個更有效的警務制度來調查盜獵事件，並提高對盜獵者的懲罰，將有助野生動物復育，Dostal表示。
於此同時，歐洲野生動物組織表示，在此三個國家的當地公園與國家公園中至少75％的地區設立禁止干涉區（non-intervention zones）將會對復育有所幫助，並會在國家公園與其他保護區間，包括界線地區，形成有效的野生動物廊道。
Dostal表示，改善奧地利，匈牙利和捷克野生動物現況將可扭轉了整個歐洲生物多樣性喪失的問題。
There are no more brown bears to be found in Austria, say European wildlife conservationists, despite the fact that neighboring Slovenia has a stable population of about 400 bears.
"Unfortunately there is no bear left in the Northern Limestone Alps," said Christian Pichler with WWF Austria. "The last bear, Moritz, which was born in Austria could not be found in 2011. The sub-population is deemed to be extinct."
The bears in the Northern Limestone Alps originate from a WWF Austria augmentation project that released three bears in the Northern Limestone Alps between 1989 and 1993.
The location was chosen because one single male bear named Ötscherbär had naturally come to the area in 1972. Between 1989 and 2010 at least 35 bears have lived in this region.
"WWF Austria was working more than 20 years on this project to bring back bears to Austria and to the Alps. One reason why we failed was poaching, more than 20 bears are missing. But another reason was the small founder population," said Pichler.
The brown bear population in the border triangle region between Austria, Italy, and Slovenia is connected to the large population of bears in the Dinaric Alps. Bears, mostly young males, disperse from the core southern Slovenia area toward the Alps.
The numbers of bears that reach the Alps is dependent on the Slovenian hunting regime, conservationists explain. Over the past 10 years Slovenian hunting quotas have risen because bears have created conflicts with beekeepers and stockbreeders.
"At present 12-15 individuals are estimated to range in the border triangle," said Pichler. "Approximately five to eight bears of these individuals inhabit Carinthia – a province in the south of Austria, but no reproduction was recorded there."
Nearly 14,000 brown bears now live in Europe in 10 separate populations from western Spain to the Russian Far East and from the north of Scandinavia to southern Romania and Bulgaria. In France, bears are critically endangered. There are few wild bears in Central Europe and none on the British Isles.
The return of large carnivores to Europe is being held back because of three countries - Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic - European Wildlife said in a statement today after comparing the wildlife in these three states with that in adjacent countries.
Those three countries form a boundary beyond which the key species are not able to advance, European Wildlife has concluded. In Hungary, for instance, there are no bears, while Hungary's eastern neighbor, Romania, has a population of 5,000 to 6,000 bears. North of Hungary, in Slovakia, there are 800 bears.
Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic keep failing in their fight against poachers of bears, wolves and lynxes, says Dostal, who blames police for the fact that a majority of poachers flee without being apprehended and punished.
Establishing a more efficient police approach for investigating poaching and increased punishment for poachers would help wildlife recover, Dostal says.
In the meantime, European Wildlife says the establishment of non-intervention zones in local parks and in at least 75 percent of the national parks in these three countries could help. Functional wildlife corridors could be created between the national parks and other protected areas, including trans-boundary areas.
Dostal says improving the situation for wildlife in Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic could lead to reversing the loss of biodiversity across all of Europe.
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In my healing journey and learning to attain the breath awareness, I become aware of the reality that all the creatures of the world are breathing the same breath. Take action, here and now. From my physical being to the every corner of this out of balance's planet.
