France: Bears in the Pyrenees have done well this year
Bears in the French Pyrenees have brought two or three youngs into the world this year. Tourists watching has been confirmed by the management of a national park in the area of Couserans.
People on the trips not only watched the young bears, but they were also taking pictures of them. At the end of last year there were 19 brown bears counted in total at the French side of the Pyrenees
French authorities revive a small and vulnerable population of the bears in the Pyrenees by releasing animals from other parts of Europe. First they released three bears in 1996. Other five animals brought from Slovenia then in 2006. Two female bears died soon after that.
Other bears from Slovenia do well in the Pyrenees. For example, a female bear called Hvala gave birth to two youngs in 2007, which means just one year after the release in France. Other youngs were then born in 2009.
“Reintroduction projects are very difficult. However, the repeated births of the bear youngs in the Pyrenees show that these projects are very important for endangered species preservation,“ stated Dalibor Dostal, the director of European Wildlife conservation organisation.
