Cantabrian brown bear

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Information sign about two bears in care
Rules of conduct and traffic in the protected area
Cantabrian brown bear in care

As Cantabrian brown bears ( Ursus arctos pyrenaicus ; Spanish: Oso Pardo) are European brown bears which have in the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain live. There are two separate populations there. The animals are considered shy of people. An encounter with hikers is considered unlikely.

Bear populations in Spain

distribution

In the autonomous region of Cantabria , around 25 animals live in the Saja Nature Park in the Campoo district near Reinosa .

According to various sources, up to 140 animals live in the Asturian principle in a biosphere reserve that extends from Trubía to the border of the Castile-Leon region. This is an area that is not completely free of settlements, whereby the use of land by humans is only permitted under very strict conditions. There is a circular hiking trail through the northern part of the reserve called Senda del Oso ( Bear Trail ), which runs largely on a disused railway line that connected a mine, which is now closed, to the rail network many years ago. On this path there is a supply station of the organization Fundación Oso De Asturias near Villanueva , which takes care of the monitoring of the wild population and the medical care of the brown bears living here. The two bears Paca and Tola live here, who were shot by poachers a few years ago and can no longer live in the wild.

Just a few years ago, the number of wild bears in Spain had dwindled to a low of less than 80 animals, which at first glance makes the enormous increase in animals a great success from a species protection perspective. However, the preservation of the animals is associated with major problems and the nature conservation organizations assume that the bear population will decline again in the next few years. However, the animals in both regions are given a good chance of survival.

Conservation and poaching

Although the bears live wild here, they still cannot survive without human help. The flora and fauna do not offer the necessary conditions for this. The plants that the animals feed on are rare, which is why various fruit plants and trees are deliberately planted at the moment. Furthermore, the bears feed on the carcasses of animals that they do not hunt themselves and that have been left lying around by other predators or that farmers have disposed of in the open countryside. They serve as a protein donor, which is considered vital for young animals. Due to the last food scandals and the BSE crisis, an EU decision was made that dead animals are to be disposed of. An exemption for bear reserves is required, but has not yet been approved.

The rangers of the nature conservation organization FAPAS have to be able to walk well, as the defined control routes alone have a total length of over 1000 kilometers. In addition, there are always special missions. The rangers look for paw prints, scratches on trees, droppings, leftovers from bear meals and other signs of the presence of bears. All data is documented exactly according to time and place of discovery. Over the years, this creates an ever more accurate picture of the number of animals and their migratory behavior. The rangers also watch out for human traces in the bear forest. For example, they remove the prohibited snare traps. These are laid out by mountain farmers as a defense against the wild boars, which often cause damage to the fields. But many other four-legged friends also die miserably in the traps. Many a curious, inexperienced young bear also perish in it. Trappers do not take too much of a risk because it is difficult to convict the perpetrators. That is why the rangers rely on persuasion. For a time the trapping decreased significantly. But since simple plastic cords have been used instead of elaborate traps, they are being used more frequently again. In the Somiedo Nature Park, a core area of ​​the bear habitat, self-timer cameras supplement the observations made by the bear protectors. The hidden cameras are only of limited use for the evacuation of poachers, although this has already been achieved. A different approach must be taken against poaching. Since the SEPRONA (Spanish environmental police) stationed outposts in the bear habitat at the urging of Fapas for years and brought some perpetrators to court, the cases of poaching have decreased significantly. Nevertheless, this problem is far from being solved. Only the presence of the rangers, if necessary reinforced by SEPRONA police officers, can keep the poachers in check. Despite all the problems outlined above, the protection and nutrition situation has improved steadily thanks to the tireless work of the bear protectionists.

Further information

Due to the limited genetic diversity of the Spanish bear populations, inbreeding is a great danger. In addition, the gender ratio in the Spanish bear populations is unfavorable - there are significantly more males than females. The birth rates are falling, which u. a. through the above This is due to inbreeding, but it is also a symptom of inadequate nutrition: malnourished bears can have fewer cubs on the one hand and may have to leave their winter camp prematurely due to a lack of fat reserves and leave their few offspring behind. For the long-term survival of the Spanish animals, it would be beneficial from outside, i.e. H. from other regions to bring fresh genes into the populations.

Until the beginning of 2008, however, scientists refused to replenish the Spanish bear populations with animals from other regions. Reason: Since the distribution areas in Spain had been isolated from the rest of the European brown bear populations since they were first known, it was assumed that the European and Cantabrian brown bears had been going their separate ways for about 25,000 years and therefore the proportion of sterile hybrids in the event of a cross would be very high. It was therefore assumed that the Cantabrian brown bear was a separate species.

However, an extensive genetic study of European brown bears in recent times has led to the result that the genetic pathways actually separated only 8,000 years ago and the genetic differences are therefore small enough for animals from other regions to be safely introduced into the Spanish populations.

A third bear population lives in Spain in the Pyrenees on the border with France . This is an experiment to resettle brown bears, the animals come from Slovenia . The experiment has failed because the population is steadily declining and experts believe it will become extinct.

swell

  1. leaflet euronatur: Spain's last bears (PDF)

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