The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Bear attacks: "I ride my sheep in the mountains with the ball in my stomach"

2020-07-04T19:55:08.288Z


While associations are demonstrating this Saturday in Toulouse after the gunshot death of a bear in early June in Ariège, we met Cé


"So, how are you girls?" Are you ok my beautiful? When Cécile finds her sheep in the bottom of a valley, in the process of being unemployed (the period of rest in hot hours) in the shade of large trees, we feel the breeder won by a puff of relief. His face lights up: the predator did not "hit" last night.

In the neighboring valley of Ustou, twenty-two bears have been identified since the beginning of the year. And it was above this small town in Ariège that one of them, a male of around 4 years old, was found shot dead on June 9. An act of poaching that has revolted all environmental associations to the point that they will meet Saturday in Toulouse to demonstrate.

In Ustou, since the NGO Sea Shepherd has offered a bonus of 30,000 euros to find the killer, no shepherd wants to speak. Even the president of the pastoral group refuses to speak to us. Cécile, she agreed to meet us at the Col d'Agnes where she "summoned" her 320 sheep at an altitude of 1500 m. From June to October, its animals, mixed with those of four other breeders, graze the fatty grass of the high mountains each summer under the supervision of a shepherd before descending in the fall. This transhumance, to which she is so attached, has transformed over the past four years into an agonizing parenthesis.

Cécile "estive" 320 sheep at the Agnes pass, at an altitude of 1,500 m / LP / Jean-Baptiste Quentin  

Because every night now, she fears that a bear will attack her flock. And it does not matter the sometimes very important indemnities paid by the State. 500 m from there, the breeder shows us the departmental road which winds below. "Two years ago, we found corpses of sheep by the roadside," sighs the 50-year-old, installed since 2006 in Ariège. She still remembers the first "cartons" she suffered. “Over fifty predated animals, not counting those that have disappeared and that have never been found. This Wednesday, his ruminants, recognizable by their Celtic symbol, a green triskel painted on the side, trudge quietly in a postcard landscape, under a blazing sun.

"1270 sheep were killed"

But the breeder admits it: from now on, she is “scared”. "I no longer take my sheep to the mountains at the start of the summer pasture in June, because the first breeder to mount their animals there has them hit hard," she says, death in her soul. At these sides that day, Franck Watts, member of the Ariège sheep union, made his calculations: “Last year, 1,270 ewes were killed by the bear in Ariège, the department which is the most stuffed ”. Since the reintroduction of the first Slovenian specimen in the Pyrenees in 1996, the population has continued to grow, now exceeding the threshold of fifty individuals.

"In addition to predations, we have to deplore many derailments of herds because frightened animals jump in the void," explains Franck, pointing to the steep cliffs that surround us. By dint of finding dying animals, breeders have learned to recognize the marks of attacks clearly attributable to the bear and not to stray dogs. "There are these long lacerations on the skin, the size of the perforations due to fangs and claws and the paunch always put aside because the bear is a gourmet and only consumes the richest parts like the liver and the heart, quips Franck. Unlike the wolf which kills the sheep by attacking the throat, the bear turns the animal over, opens it and consumes it alive. "

"I no longer take my sheep to the mountains at the start of the summer pasture in June, because the first breeder to mount their animals there has them hit hard," says the breeder. / LP / Jean-Baptiste Quentin  

To those who criticize breeders for not protecting their livestock enough or for not investing in protective dogs, Cécile replies that it takes "three years for the sheep to get used to the presence of dogs". As for gathering the animals every night around a secure park, Franck says that it is sometimes mission impossible. “Some areas are too steep and the terrain is too rugged to group the animals there. "We are asked to put in place solutions that do not work and whatever we do, we are guilty of everything," sighs the breeder from Ariège.

"I sometimes cry in my sheepfold"

Does she understand that we are coming to kill a bear? "I do not endorse this act but I find that this call for denial ( Editor's note: from the Sea Shepherd association ) is very unhealthy. Nauseaabond even. It gives me goosebumps. As the shadow of three vultures looms over the mountain opposite, Cécile discreetly swallows her tears while caressing her dog Jazzy.

Gathering animals every night around a secure park is sometimes mission impossible, because some areas are too steep. / LP / Jean-Baptiste Quentin  

Newsletter - Essential news

Every morning, the news seen by Le Parisien

I'm registering

Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to allow you to receive our news and commercial offers. Find out more

"In winter, I sometimes cry in my sheepfold telling me that I will send my animals to the box the following summer," she says, her voice trembling. Ten years ago, she remembers how transhumance was "a celebration". “Going up here and seeing my animals in this magical space was a treat. A moment of break, of intimacy with my herd. "

Today, the breeder claims to have "every day the ball in the belly". “My job is to pamper my sheep, to make them feel good. But now, when I take them to the mountains, I feel like I'm betraying them. "

Source: leparis

All life articles on 2020-07-04

You may like

News/Politics 2024-03-10T19:18:38.125Z
Sports 2024-02-14T05:12:45.379Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.