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Hungry bear and cub cause chaos in Romanian city

A mother bear and her young cub caused chaos after wandering into a Romanian city searching for food.

After roaming through gardens they climbed the stairs of a four-storey building and broke onto the roof.

Eventually a rescue team tranquillised the mother after attempts to make her go toward a nearby forest were unsuccessful.

Traffic had been stopped for two hours in part of Brasov while the team tried to get the animals back to the forest.

"It was a difficult task," said Flavius Barbulescu, the head of the animal protection service. "The bear cub was very small and could not keep up with its mum, and she did not want to go back to the forest without it.

The animals finally took refuge in a building, climbing the stairs to the attic, breaking a window and then clambering onto the roof. "That was when we decided to tranquillise the mother," Mr Barbulescu said.

Rescuers shot the bear with a dart gun from a distance. When she became drowsy, they tied her front paws and her back paws together, to make sure she didn't fall from the roof. Once she was asleep, they removed her and her cub from the roof, strapped her by her paws to a pole and took the pair to the local zoo. The cub was transported in a cage.

Officials said the animals would be sent to a nearby bear reservation.

Brasov, 100 miles from Bucharest, is one of Romania's largest cities and a popular tourist destination. Sightings of bears are common, especially in the district of Racadau, where the animals rummage in dustbins for food.

Romania is home to about half of Europe's brown bears. Four years ago, two men died after they were attacked by a rabid bear. Last year a bear killed an American woman who was on honeymoon in Romania, and in a separate incident a man walking in a pasture in central Romania was mauled to death.