Rory Mulholland
TelegraphSat, 22 Jul 2017 14:16 UTC
© Andia Uig/Getty ImagesSheep in the Pyrenees
More than 200 sheep have died after they hurtled over the edge of a cliff in the Pyrenees mountains while being chased by a bear.
Their deaths have reignited the bitter debate over the presence of bears in the mountain range that straddles the French-Spanish border, where they were reintroduced 20 years ago after disappearing in the early 1990s.
The sheep belonged to a farmer in the Couflens area on the French side of the border, but their bodies were found last Sunday at the foot of a cliff just over the border in Spain.
The rest of the large flock was missing after dispersing over the mountains while fleeing the attack.
Local authorities sent experts to examine the scene during the week and they concluded that the sheep had been running away from a bear.
The sheep's owner will be compensated for each of the 209 animals found dead, which is standard practice in such cases as part of the deal made between the government and farmers when brown bears from Slovenia were introduced in the late 1990s.But the deaths provoked an angry statement from the militant Confédération Paysanne (Farmers' Federation) which demanded immediate action to stop deadly attacks by bears on livestock.
"Pastoralism, which is a guarantor of biodiversity and of a living and welcoming mountain region, is not compatible with the reintroduction of large predators," it said in a statement.
"The state, which is responsible for the reintroduction of the bears, should remove the ones that are causing problems and should not reintroduce any more bears," it said.
The verbal protest was the latest battle in the long-running war between livestock farmers and animal conservationists who believe bears have their rightful pace in the mountain range.
A similar battle is going on over the growing presence of wolves in France.
On Thursday the government gave the green light for the cull of dozens of wolves in mountain areas, mostly in the southeast, where they have killed around 8,000 farm animals, mostly sheep, over the past year.
The cull of up to 40 wolves by July next year represents a little over 10 percent of France's total wolf population.
Wolves
were eradicated in France in the 1930s but began to arrive back from Italy in the 1990s.
Comment: There's some doubt on the bear attack theory. Any farmer in the Pyrenees with sheep dead from unknown causes, i.e. where they are found dead with no evidence of animal attack, would most likely try to push the "bear said boo!" angle. These kinds of government/EU subsidies and compensation have been exploited by farmers and others across the EU for decades.
Although a bear attack can't be ruled out, we can suspect that the incident was created by a "weather event" or something that created a high impact explosion, like a sonic boom or lightning strike. Sheep have acute hearing and are prone to "instantly scatter" away from heavy percussion and the source of the vibration. Many of the sheep were found to have dispersed over the mountains. It's dubious that a bear attack would create that type of a reaction.
On the other hand, the Spanish news agency Europa Press said that bear fur had been found on one of the dead sheep. The fur would be analysed to try to establish exactly what had happened. But this is a bit strange that bear fur can be found so opportunely on a sheep. Another possibility is that the bear didn't come along afterwards and the sheep were spooked by something else.
Comment: There's some doubt on the bear attack theory. Any farmer in the Pyrenees with sheep dead from unknown causes, i.e. where they are found dead with no evidence of animal attack, would most likely try to push the "bear said boo!" angle. These kinds of government/EU subsidies and compensation have been exploited by farmers and others across the EU for decades.
Although a bear attack can't be ruled out, we can suspect that the incident was created by a "weather event" or something that created a high impact explosion, like a sonic boom or lightning strike. Sheep have acute hearing and are prone to "instantly scatter" away from heavy percussion and the source of the vibration. Many of the sheep were found to have dispersed over the mountains. It's dubious that a bear attack would create that type of a reaction.
On the other hand, the Spanish news agency Europa Press said that bear fur had been found on one of the dead sheep. The fur would be analysed to try to establish exactly what had happened. But this is a bit strange that bear fur can be found so opportunely on a sheep. Another possibility is that the bear didn't come along afterwards and the sheep were spooked by something else.