Bear Convicted of Honey Theft

But the honey-stealing bear was nowhere to be seen as the court in Bitola handed down its judgement.

The case was brought by a frustrated beekeeper, who, after a protracted battle, turned to the law to stop the bear from attacking his beehives.

Zoran Kiseloski said he tried to keep the bear away by playing thumping "turbo-folk" music and buying a generator to light up the area.

"I tried to distract the bear with lights and music because I heard bears are afraid of that," Mr Kiseloski told the Dnevnik newspaper.

"So I bought a generator, lit up the area and put on songs."

But when the generator ran out of power and the music fell silent, the bear was back.

"It attacked the beehives again," said Mr Kiseloski.

The court 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 (£1,724) damage it caused to the hives.