Since the beginning of the year, it is the second plantigrade to be found dead in the Pyrenees. A bear was found Tuesday shot dead in Ariège, announced the Minister for Ecological Transition Elisabeth Borne, indicating that the state was going to file a complaint. In April, the remains of Cachou, a male born in 2015, were discovered in the Val d'Aran (Spain), although the cause of his death has not yet been disclosed.
“The bear is a protected species, this act is illegal and deeply condemnable. The prefect went there. The state will file a complaint, "the minister wrote on Twitter. The animal lay in a high mountain area, in the town of Aulus-les-Bains, near the ski resort of Guzet and an investigation was opened by the prosecutor of Foix, according to the prefecture.
A bear was discovered today in Ariège, shot dead. The bear is a protected species, this act is illegal and deeply condemnable. The prefect went there. The state will file a complaint. pic.twitter.com/tlMPzmsvyf
- Elisabeth BORNE (@Elisabeth_Borne) June 9, 2020“No one has the right to remove a bear in the Pyrenees, it is inconceivable. It is a protected species ”, reacted Alain Reynes, director of the Pays de l'ours association, which defends the presence of the species in the Pyrenees. "Of course, (we) the associations will also file a complaint and do everything in our power to find those responsible and have them sentenced," he added.
Around 50 bears in the Pyrenees, authorities say
The growth of the Ursine population in the Pyrenees, after reintroductions started in 1991, has for years fueled tensions with breeders who consider their presence incompatible with pastoral activity. The number of bears in the Pyrenees now reaches 50 individuals, according to the authorities, a level which does not however ensure the survival of the species.
In the anti-bear camp, the news is far from moving, and the trail of an angry breeder is not dismissed, at the start of the summer pastures. “People have to be on edge to commit illegal acts like this. We never listened to their suffering on a daily basis. We have sown the pain, the suffering, the chaos in our mountains ”, reacted Philippe Lacube, president of the Chamber of Agriculture of Ariège. "It can also be self-defense," he said later.
He assures that about fifteen bears live in this area of Ariège, the Couserans, out of a total which he estimates for his part to vary between 60 to 80 specimens. “Why is the life of a bear more important than that of a sheep. 1,500 ewes were victims of the bear last year. We would not be there if the bear's file was managed locally, by the aborigines of this territory, not in Paris at the ministry ”.
More than 1,100 animals killed in 2019
France had adopted a "bear plan" for 2018-2028 providing for new releases of bears, but it was buried by the government just months after its establishment, after demonstrations by breeders. In 2019, 1,173 animals were killed by bears and 36 hives destroyed, according to figures contained in a public consultation launched recently for scaring measures of brown bears in the Pyrenees.
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Last week, the Ministers of the Ecological and Solidarity Transition and of Agriculture had also announced an envelope of 500,000 additional euros for bear-pastoralism cohabitation. Defenders of the plantigrades denounce figures inflated by the race for compensation, and accusations against unconfirmed predators.