The presence of the bear in certain French regions continues to be debated. And on Saturday, opponents and supporters demonstrated on their own. Defenders of the animal were in Toulouse to demand the replacement of the bear killed in early June in Ariège and the continuation of reintroductions of plantigrades currently frozen. The detractors of the bear gathered on their side around the pond of Ers, in the Occitanie region. Between the two camps, the arguments are always the same and the debate as the attempts at mediation are very complicated.
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Both sides have fairly firm convictions and find it difficult to get along. Jean-Paul Denard is mayor of a small village on the heights of the Pyrenees. Without going so far as to endorse the slaughter of the bear, he is deeply against its reintroduction: "I have a small cabin in the mountains. My neighbor had sheep, they came to kill two in the stable. They broke the door and ate my neighbor's two sheep, "he said. "Today, when we advocate animal sensitivity, we do not think of the stress of animals like the sheep, the horse, who are under the stress of attacks," he continues.
"There are experiences where breeders do the right thing"
However, cohabitation is possible between supporters and opponents, between bears and sheep. In any case, this is what Patrick Leyrissoux, of the Ferus association, said, who called for the demonstration in front of the Toulouse prefecture on Saturday morning. "There are experiences where breeders do the right thing: guard dogs, a shepherd who does guarding, and an electrified nocturnal regrouping park. And they have very few losses," he said. "So we know these solutions. Except that these people do not want to implement them because, according to them, it is to accept the bear."
In any case, the debate is far from over, since the pro-bears are asking for the reintroduction of a new animal to replace the one that was slaughtered in early June, as provided for in the Bear plan.