The Cantabrian Brown Bear Foundation (FOP) has released encouraging census data relating to breeding females in the Cantabrian mountains of northwest Spain, which suggests that the "extremely threatened" animal is in the process of recovery in the area.
According to a press release issued by the foundation, 40 female brown bears with a total of 67 cubs were recorded in 2016, surpassing the 2015 record and "consolidating" the animal's recovery process. Last year's data "reinforces the positive trend" seen in 2015, with the largest number of female bears and cubs recorded since records began back in 1989.
Brown bears can be found in just a few isolated regions of Spain - in the Cantabrian mountains, in Asturias, Galicia, León, in the Picos de Europa and adjacent areas, but numbers were feared to be dropping rather than increasing. There is also a tiny population of brown bears in the Pyrenees mountains, in a range shared between France, Spain and Andorra. A shortage of breeding females there led to biologists releasing female bears from Slovenia into the area in spring 2006, despite protests from French farmers, to redress the balance and preserve the species in the area.
The latest data not only shows increasing numbers, but also greater contact betweem the sub-populations, thanks to males crossing from one group to another, thus bringing to an end the genetic isolation they have experienced for possibly as much as a century.
However, the FOP has warned against celebrating too soon, emphasising that the Cantabrian brown bear is still in danger of extinction, and is remains in the "severely threatened" category on the National List of Threatened Species.
Data relating to the sub-population in the Pyrenees is also promising, although the foundation outlined the unsolved social issues on the French side, where measures have not been introduced to prevent bear attacks on livestock and beehives, leading to unrest amongst the farmers which threatens to spread across the border into Spain.
Another major challenge for the FOP is to launch a fresh drive to reinforce the introduction and adaptation of female bears between Navarra and Aragón, as conditions, they say, are now favourable for the success of such a project.
(Photo courtesy of the Cantabrian Brown Bear Foundation - Fundación Oso Pardo)
