A young bear was found dead in the Pyrenees

A young bear has been found dead in a rugged Pyrenees area.

«On June 19, a bear was found in the gorge. The investigation was entrusted to the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB). An autopsy clearly ruled out any human interventionSaid Saint-Gaudin prosecutor Christophe Amunzatego. According to the prosecutor, the forensic medical examination has “found out that the death of this one and a half year old animal was certainly due to a confrontation with another bear or another animal.«. OFB officers found the bear near the village of Melles, where the first release of Slovenian grizzly bears took place in the 1990s.

Population of 70 bears in France

2020 և In 2021, 4 bears were illegally killed by humans in the Pyrenees. One was poisoned in Spain, the other three were shot. The bear, which had virtually disappeared from the range, was reintroduced by a re-introduction plan to consolidate the presence of the trunk. Today there are about 70 of them, especially in the center of the Iberian Islands, on the French side – Ariège, on the Spanish side – Val d’Aran, according to the French authorities. Bear predators on sheep herds in mountain pastures are condemned by breeders, anti-bears, who are against its presence. Measures to intimidate bears have resumed for the government, including non-lethal shootings in France in 2019 to protect herds.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture, these measures had “some efficiency to avoid predators«. In case of deviation from the prefecture, breeders may resort to simple means of intimidation (sound, olfactory “light” means) orhas been strengthenedwith non-lethal shots (double-barreled cartridges or rubber bullets) if first aid is not sufficient. “These non-lethal shootings are regularly condemned by the Bear Protection Associations, which have also won several appeals to the State Council.”