Brown Bears and Mountain Farmers - Is Cohabitation Possible?

Mid September a video was sent to local media in the Ariège Pyrenees.

In the video a spokesperson for the group of about 30 heavily armed individuals, their faces hidden by balaclavas, threatens to start hunting the brown bears in the Pyrenees which are a protected species. 

 

 

Still from video

 

This excellent programme C Politique Le Débat was broadcast on Arte

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCIIh98sesk&feature=youtu.be

looks at both sides of the issue about whether brown bears and mountain farmers can cohabit in the Pyrenees.

 

 

 

 

1:46 mins. 8 minute introductory film. Sets out the pro and anti arguments for brown bear reintroduction in the Pyrenees and covers the summer attacks on livestock by brown bears and the video of the group threatening to start hunting the bears if the government does not start to listen to their concerns.

 

10:00 mins. Studio debate between  

Alan Reynes (Pro Bear) - the Director of the Association 'Pays de l'Ours' and François Toulis (Anti Bear) - President of the Ariège Chamber of Agriculture.  

 

25:00 mins. End. 

Bears - Myths and Realities

The exhibition at the Natural History Museum in Toulouse 'Bears - Myths and Realities' was interesting, enjoyable and at the same time thought provoking.

The 8 species of bear around the world were introduced using stuffed bears and then the exhibition went on to concentrate on the brown bear in the Pyrenees and the relation between bears and humankind from the stone age to the present. At one time revered and 'king' of the animals, the brown bear was demonised from the middle ages and hunted to near extinction. The population of brown bears in the Pyrenees was thought to be unsustainable so bears were introduced from Slovenia. Bear cubs are being born but the bear population remains too small at around 25.

Skeleton of  the Pyrenean brown bear Papillon.

I was surprised by the size of the brown bear skeletons.The skeleton of Papillon who lived to the age of 28, which is very old for a bear in the wild, was smaller than I had expected although the claws were enormous.

Scan of a young, healthy brown bear

Scan of brown bear Papillon's skull  who died aged 28.

The scan of a healthy brown bear skull was contrasted with the skull of the old male brown bear (Papillon). The difference in the state of the teeth was very clear.

This quote suggesting that how we have treated the brown bear, and continue to treat it is, reflects badly on ourselves summed up the pro bear bias. The anti bear arguments from hill farmers with animals to rear, one side of a continuing heated debate, were not touched on .

The exhibition Bears - Myths and Realities is at the Natural History Museum in Toulouse until 30th June 2014.

Film of Brown Bear

Latest brown bear images from the Pyrenees captured by an automatic camera. Unusually it is daytime. The female bear is Hvala, one of the bears successfully reintroduced from Slovenia. The name means Thankyou in English. The 2 bear cubs were born this year.

Bears: Myths and Realities

Bears, Myths and Realities is the new exhibition event at the Natural History Museum in Toulouse which runs from 13th October ton the 30th June 2014. 

The bear is a  mythical animal and until the Middle Ages in France was regarded as the king of the animals with bear worship popular in some parts of the Pyrenees . It was the Catholic church at this time which began to demonise the bear and the cult of the bear. The lion was promoted as the real king of the animals and bears were persecuted and hunted to near extinction.

The exhibition looks at how, whether revered or feared, the bear is the object of many fantasies and desires, between attraction and aversion.

Perhaps the fascination about bears starts with the fact that they resemble ourselves in many ways. They can walk upright, have closely human-like ears, have a similar diet, and leave tracks with the whole of their back foot (heel, arch and toes). In France the bear is given human names like Martin or  lou pedescaous (le va-nu-pieds, or ‘the barefooted one’),  loucourailhat (‘the vagabond’) and Mousu (‘le monsieur’).

There are examples of the 8 different bear species from around the world. The brown bear from the Pyrenees is represented by the Canelle the last 'authentic' female bear in the Pyrenees, shot by a hunter in 2004. Her pelt has been mounted and on display.

The exhibition comes at a time when the tension between the pro and anti brown bear reintroduction factions has heightened. Those previously against the reintroduction of Slovenian bears to boost the population of bears in the Pyrenees (largely farmers and shepherds in the mountains) are now not only calling for no further reintroductions, but that the existing brown bears should be removed. They have threatened to take measures into their own hands although brown bears remain a protected species and killing them remains illegal.

Website: Natural History Museum of Toulouse

The Bear Facts II

Originally published in The Connexion newspaper July 2013