A scheme to reintroduce brown bears to the Pyrenees is showing signs of success, with 70 individuals identified in 2021, the highest number for a century. The population has increased from 52 in 2018, according to figures produced by the cross-border group that monitors the bears in France and Spain, with half the creatures living […]
Tag: Pyrenees
Spain’s Endesa power firm sued over electrocution of birds
In Leonard Cohen’s famous song, a bird on a wire is a symbol of freedom, but for thousands of birds it is the equivalent of being sent to the electric chair. Now, in a landmark case, a Spanish electricity company is being prosecuted over the deaths of hundreds of birds electrocuted on pylons and overhead […]
Record number of bear cubs born in French Pyrenees brings cheer and fear
French animal rights groups are celebrating news that populations of brown bears – which had been threatened with extinction – have seen a strong revival in the Pyrenees mountains. Livestock owners, however, warn bears attacks on their flocks are out of control. Bear numbers rose to from 52 to 64 last year, including 16 cubs […]
Heartbreak as brown bears are shot dead by hunters in Spain
Two protected brown bears have been shot dead on what has been dubbed a ‘dark day’ for efforts to preserve the species. The adult females were killed on the same day by wild boar hunters in Spain, despite conservation groups working to grow the population from near-extinction. One of the dead bears, named Sarousse, had […]
Should shooting stags be allowed during the rut?
La chance me sourit pour l’image ces jours-ci mais elle ne sourit pas aux cerfs porteurs de beaux bois. Non seulement les chasseurs ont droit à 3 jours de battue pendant le brame par semaine, mais aussi à des tirs sauvages ou à l’affût tous les jours. Je suis montée sans trop croire aux possibilités […]
Alpine Marmots
From the same family as the squirrels, this creature is symbolic of our mountains and lives in an altitude between 800 and 3 000 meters. It was successfully reintroduced in Pyrenees in 1948, as it had totally disappeared at the end of the Pleistocene period. It hibernates 6 to 7 months a year without stocking food […]
Plea for the Pyrenean stags
The largest and best reproductive males are systematically culled for their trophies even during the bellowing period. Result: these males are not seen any more and the younger ones hesitate to come down in the Pyrenean valleys to join the females; this is what’s left to admire… A sad situation. As the wild boar, this […]