The process divides, in a tense context between breeders and defenders of biodiversity. At the foot of the Pyrenees, 40,500 euros are promised to anyone who provides information enabling the person responsible for the death of a 4-year-old Pyrenean bear, found slaughtered on June 9, to be identified.
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Behind this award, we find the environmental association "Sea Shepherd", founded by Paul Watson and created to save the oceans. At the start, the premium amounted to 10,000 euros. But companies, individuals and local associations have inflated the pot. This jackpot is not a first for the organization. In 2019, in Finistère, 10,000 euros had been paid to a witness who had allowed the arrest of two sailors accused of having beheaded seals.
No serious testimony has yet been collected
But this method is not to everyone's taste, and in particular provokes the anger of the boss of the departmental council, Christine Téqui. For the elected official, "this legalizes a society of denunciation, a society of cowboys". As for the members of the association "Pays de l'ours-Adet" which campaigns for its return, they do not endorse this mode of action preferring to appeal to good citizenship. Contacted, Lamya Essemlali, the president of Sea Shepherd France, recognizes that these "Anglo-Saxon methods used in the United States can shock France". According to her, reporting should not be confused with reporting a crime.
Still, no serious testimony has yet reached the association, which has only one goal: to help the investigation and end the impunity of poachers.