A brown bear (illustration) -

D. Hostad / Pixabay

  • The services of the French Biodiversity Office detected 64 bears in the Pyrenees last year, including seven which died during the year.

  • In its report on brown bear activity in this massif, the Office indicates that there were more bear attacks last year but they did less damage than in 2019.

They have come out of their den and begin to frolic on the foothills of the Pyrenees.

This year again, during the spring, new cubs should be observed, as was the case last year.

According to the brown bear monitoring report in the Pyrenees, made public this week by the French Biodiversity Office, in 2020, 64 bears were detected in 2020, including 16 cubs.

But among these plantigrades, there are also losses.

For example, three bears have been killed by humans over the past year.

Cachou was poisoned in the Val d'Aran, Sarousse was shot dead in Aragon during a wild boar hunt, as was a 4-year-old male in Ariège in June.

Four of the 16 cubs are also considered missing by the OFB teams and four known bears have not been seen for two years and are therefore also considered missing.

On the other hand, a female and a male who had passed under the radar screens in 2019 resurfaced and are again among the workforce.

More attacks, fewer victims

"As for 2021, the presence of 23 adult females in the population and the different rutting behaviors observed in 2020 suggest a number of future litters potentially similar to 2020", indicates the follow-up report.

While their number has increased, the damage caused by plantigrades has decreased.

Last year, 369 predations were recorded by the State, causing the death of 636 animals, against 1,200 in 2019. This is despite everything the largest number of attacks observed since the first reinforcements of 1996-1997.

"The number of bear damage to domestic herds - number of animals killed or injured - on the other hand decreased compared to 2019, which resulted in particular from three large derailments involving respectively 61, 264 and 286 sheep, or 52% of the number total damage ”, explains the French Biodiversity Office.

On the other side of the Pyrenees, only 46 attacks were recorded.

For the ADET bear defense association, this difference is due to the different means deployed by the two countries.

If in Spain we favor protected herds with shepherds and the nocturnal regrouping of animals under dog protection, "on the French side, the" experiments "with scaring, expensive and dangerous, do not therefore solve the problem of breeders", deplores the association, which asks that the services of the French State refocus on constructive and lasting solutions.

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