Several dozen people gathered Saturday in front of the prefecture of Foix (Ariège) in tribute to a bear killed in the Pyrenees, an event which had initially been banned by the prefecture fearing clashes with breeders.
In a symbolic funeral march, officials of environmental associations laid a small wooden coffin, flowers and a teddy bear at the foot of the gates of the prefecture, AFP journalists found. They called on the state to "do everything possible to find the murderers " of the four-year-old plantigrade killed by a gun on June 9 near the ski resort of Guzet, 1,800 meters away.
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The holding of the demonstration had remained uncertain until the previous evening, the prefect of Ariège having banned it Thursday considering that it was " likely to create tensions between the supporters of the reintroduction of the bear and the actors of the rural world of the Pyrenean massif ". She also mentioned the risks of counter-demonstration projects observed on social networks. But Friday evening, the administrative court of Toulouse rejected these reasons and suspended the prefectural decree.
Constrained by European legislation on the protection of biodiversity, the French State launched in the 1990s a program to reintroduce the brown bear in the Pyrenean massif, from where the species had practically disappeared. The beginning of a conflict between farmers and environmentalists, punctuated by demonstrations, sometimes violent.
The authorities now count 50 specimens in the Pyrenees, a level which does not, however, ensure the survival of the species.