Paca
and
Tola
got out of the trunk of a poacher's car and, in 1989, became the hope of a species that was about to disappear.
The salvation of the two small esbardos was that of a breed that in the last three decades has not stopped growing in the Cantabrian mountain range, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula.
The series of data on female bears with cubs managed by the Brown Bear Foundation shows the clear recovery of the Cantabrian population, which in the last 25 years has grown at a rate of 10% per year.
The last census carried out between Asturias, Castilla y León, Cantabria and Galicia —first carried out with genomic techniques or what is the same, those that allow the introduction of directed modifications in the genome—, confirms that the species is consolidated on the western slope of the Cordillera and grows remarkably in the east.
After having collected and genetically analyzed more than 1,200 samples of hair and droppings, the bear population in this region currently consists of 370 bears (210 males and 160 females), of which 250 belong to the western subpopulation and 120 to the eastern one.
Previous calculations placed the total census at 330, with only 50 plantigrades (animals that support the entire sole of the foot when walking) in the eastern zone.
The results show the satisfaction of experts and politicians, since they confirm the western consolidation of the species, which is "the mother zone", as well as its expansion towards unusual areas of Galicia (Lugo and Orense), the north of Zamora, León , Palencia and Cantabria.
The study of the four communities, together with the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge and the Institute for Research in Hunting Resources (IREC), sampled 16,700 square kilometers and covered 7,606.
In Asturias, 4,899 square kilometers were analyzed in the western population and 554 in the eastern.
In total, they explored more than 3,000 kilometers in the community.
This census constitutes a milestone, since until now the only thing that had been estimates and records of female bears with cubs.
The work reveals that there are more male bears than females (56% compared to 47%) and that Castilla y León is the community with the most specimens.
Specifically, it is home to more than half of the population: 197, 53%.
Asturias is the second, with 35%, about 130. Cantabria (8%) and Galicia (3%) are behind.
the danger continues
Although the statistics are good and there are already more bears than inhabitants in councils in the south west of Asturias such as Pesoz or San Martín de Oscos, there is still a long way to go for the species to get out of danger.
In the 2030s, the Cantabrian population could move out of the endangered category to enter the vulnerable category on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, according to the authors of the book
Cantabrian Bears.
Demography, coexistence and conservation challenges
, from the Oso Pardo Foundation.
"Preserving the habitat of the species is essential, avoiding activities that interfere with the conservation objective and exercising very strict control over sports and leisure practices
in these areas, so that they are compatible with the recovery of the species that, despite these figures, remains in the category of endangered, although it is true that, fortunately, already in the lower and less acute range of the himself, explains José Tuñón, director of the Oso Asturias Foundation and who has collaborated in the study.
"The bear is the symbol of the best that each of the four communities have: sustainable development, respect for nature and knowing how to anticipate coexistence problems is decisive," adds David Villar, general director of Rural Affairs of Asturias.
In the Proaza bear enclosure,
Paca
no longer shares territory with her sister
Tola
, who died in 2018, but she sees how
Molina
, another bear cub rescued when she was little, grows up.
Their survival is the legacy of a conservation success, the first stone of which was laid in 1967, when they stopped killing these animals in Spain and later, in 1973, they were considered a protected species.
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