Polish TV switches New Year party venue for hibernating bears

A Polish TV channel was forced to change its plans to hold the New Year's Eve Party near bear caves because the noise would have disturbed the hibernating animals. Every year, the TVP station hosts a gala event featuring concerts and a lot of alcohol. For this year, the wanted to relocate the party to the most famous ski resort in the Tatra mountains in Poland. However, after a local newspaper said that hibernating bears could be disturbed, the National Park authorities sparked the authorities and a petition was filed by nearly 28,000 people. 

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Venue switch after protests

The TVP chief, Jacek Kurski reportedly confirmed that the event would move back to its previous location in the town of Zakopane, saying that New Year's Eve 'must unite us, not divide us'. Even the Zakopane officials confirmed the switch in locations saying they were pleased to have convinced TVP to return to the town centre. Many people protested through Zakopane and marched with a fake bear on a stretcher last week demanding for TVP to relocate the venue for the event. An expert from the venue confirmed with an international news agency that there were Carpathian brown bears in the area. 

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Initially, the TV channel called the demonstrators as 'pseudo-ecologists' and argued that sports events have been held in the area previously without any problem. The station also said that moving the location to the mountains would have provided them protection from the wind. However, Tatra National Park had warned that the noise along with disturbance of fireworks trigger anxiety issues in animals, search for new spots and then, in the long run, it also results in the drop of birth rate. The warning also added that a bear had died last year after being woken up on New Year's Eve. 

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(With agency inputs)