Brown Bears Released in Pyrenees Draw Farmers' Ire

Elizabeth Svoboda
for National Geographic News

May 17, 2006

Brown bears, once a common sight in the pine forests of France's
Pyrenees Mountains, are rarely glimpsed by hikers and herders
these days.

Threatened by shrinking habitats and indiscriminate hunting, the bears' numbers have dipped into the high teens, down from hundreds only a century ago (wallpaper: Alaskan brown bear).

In response to conservationists' concerns, the French government drew up a plan last fall to release five Slovenian bears in the Pyrenees in hopes of establishing a larger breeding population.

But the program is meeting staunch resistance from local farmers, who fear the bears will make a habit of dining on cows and sheep housed in outdoor corrals.

"This is shameful," Sylvie Bachy, a cow farmer in the Pyrenees town of Nistos, told the Associated Press. "War has been declared."

According to news reports, the battle between biodiversity advocates and livestock protectors became violent before and after the April release of two female bears, Franska and Palouma.

Angry protesters in the village of Arbas locked the pro-bear mayor into the town hall. And eyewitnesses report finding bear-attracting honey jars containing bits of broken glass scattered in the forest.

More peaceful protesters rang cowbells and donned T-shirts reading "No to the bears!"

France's highest administrative court ruled this week that the repopulation will be completed on schedule, even if that means smuggling bears into the forest in covered trucks to avoid protests.

Bears as Scapegoats?

Brown bears have a carnivorous reputation, but their diet is naturally about 80 percent vegetarian, according to WWF, the international conservation group.

Occasionally the bears eat small mammals, fish, and insects for extra protein (brown bear fun facts).

In the Pyrenees, which run along France's southern border with Spain (map of France), much of the bears' forest habitat has been chopped down to make room for farmland.

When the animals can't forage as effectively, they begin to single out livestock as an alternative food source.

Pyrenees farmers have accused Boutxy, the male offspring of a Slovenian bear released during a 1996 reintroduction program, of killing three sheep during the month of March.

Sylvie Cardona, secretary general of the Aves France conservation group, thinks area farmers are especially watchful of possible threats because of the hard times they've faced in recent years.

"French farmers are in competition with farmers in other countries," she said. "They have economic problems, and they're putting the blame on the bears."

Nelly Olin, France's Minister of Environment, supports the current repopulation plan but sympathizes with the farmers' plight.

"I understand completely the worry of the farmers and shepherds, and so we have put in place a certain number of plans, including the possibility of having their flocks watched," she told the French LCI Television station last month.

Cardona of Aves France applauds the government's efforts to minimize bear attacks on livestock. But she says officials need to do more to encourage farmers to comply with the reintroduction program.

"The French government does give money to support the [sheep] breeders, helping them buy electrical fences and guard dogs. But it should be giving out even bigger stipends," she said.

Bear Support

Olivier Hernandez is head of the large carnivores program in France for WWF. He says protesters are exaggerating the threat bears pose to their livelihood.

"It's true bears can be a problem for farmers and shepherds, but bear killings account for less than one percent of total livestock loss in the Pyrenees," he said.

"Diseases, storms, and dogs are responsible for most of the damage." Statistics indicate that, of 600,000 sheep present in the Pyrenees, only 150 to 300 have been killed by bears recently.

But farmers continue to stage demonstrations with signs and fireworks, including a recent gathering of 5,000 protesters near the town of Bagneres-de-Bigorre.

Bear supporters are buoyed by the knowledge that only a small, vocal fraction of the French public opposes their efforts.

"Most of the French agree with the bear reintroduction," Cardona said. "They know it's a question of biodiversity—it's important to make sure the population recovers."

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