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WORLD NEWS Thursday 16 January 2020

Grrrrr! Angry herders secure bear ban from France's Macron

By JOHN LEICESTER mated at around 40 bears, off with their knives. For us source of tension between Around 170 bears were
Associated Press doubling its size since 2010 shepherds, that is traumat- herders and those op- shot in 2019, said Damjan
PARIS (AP) — The bears and roaming over a long ic." posed to the deployment Orazem, the Forest Service
have cute names — Bub- director.
ble, Feather, Snowflake Herders including Pommies
and the like — and look so pounced on Macron to talk
soft and huggable when about the Pyrenees' bears
caught on video by re- when the French leader
mote cameras that study turned up at the Tour de
their habits. But to herders France last year on a day
high in the Pyrenees moun- when the bicycle race
tains of southwest France, swung through the peaks.
the animals are stone-cold Pommies said he threat-
killers, ravaging flocks and ened to release his animals
undermining farming liveli- into the riders' path unless
hoods. Macron agreed to a meet-
Pyrenean livestock farmers ing. That brief encounter
who raise sheep for meat elicited a pledge from Ma-
and famously pungent cron that he'd hold talks
cheeses are rejoicing af- with them at length at a lat-
ter getting an assurance er date, an offer he made
from President Emmanuel good on this week.
Macron that he won't au- Emmanuelle Wargon, a
thorize the release into the deputy environment min-
wild of any more of the ister who attended the
bears blamed for a surge in meeting, told broadcaster
deadly attacks. Sud Radio that Macron
"He promised that the re- "reaffirmed that we don't
insertions (of bears) are fin- have any plans to reintro-
ished, that he won't release In this Sept.2, 2019 file photo, shepherd Romain Jaurigueberry brings dead sheep to sub-prefecture duce (more) bears," add-
of Bayonne, southwestern France, to protests against the rising bear attacks on sheep herds in
any more," said Jean-Pierre Pyrenees mountains. ing: "It was important to tell
Pommies, who raises sheep Associated Press them this."
and cows. Pommies wore For bear preservationists,
his broad farmer's beret herders are greatly exag-
to Tuesday's meeting with and expanding swath of He believes the presence of large dogs to keep wolf gerating the risk posed by
the suit-and-tied Macron the mountains that form the of the predators is simply packs at bay. the predators. Alain Rey-
in Pau, a Pyrenean town border between France "incompatible" with the In Germany, wolves have nes, director of the group
with sweeping views of the and Spain, stretching from Pyrenean mountain econ- been a source of political Country of the Bear, said he
mountains. the Mediterranean to the omy that rests largely on friction. The far-right oppo- believes the actual number
"He was able to understand Atlantic. herding. sition Alternative for Ger- of animals killed by bears is
that it's a big problem for Bear attacks on livestock "I love bears. I'm passionate many party accused the far smaller than the 1,500,
us," Pommies added. "We have grown, too. Having about them as animals. But government of failing to mostly sheep, that Pyrene-
have reached the bottom, long been largely stable, I love that they live happily defend farmers' interests an herders claim they lost
and the situation was ridic- mostly between 100 and in Yellowstone, in Canada, against the 75 wolf packs last year.
ulous for Pyrenean herders." 200 attacks per year across in Romania and Slovenia," counted there in 2018. Reynes also said that Ma-
When France's last pocket the Pyrenees, including he said. In the Pyrenees, There is also debate in Bel- cron's moratorium on bear
of brown bears appeared Spain, France and Andor- "the people who are pro- gium about the reappear- releases can't last, be-
headed for extinction in ra, they surged to close to bear say that it used to work ance of wolves after infra- cause France is obliged
the Pyrenees in the 1990s, 400 in 2018, according to for the old timers, that they red cameras spotted a pair by European law to ensure
the country began import- the most recent official an- used to deal with it. And together in woods and a that the bear population
ing animals from Slovenia, nual report. that is completely false. His- pregnant wolf was killed in remains viable.
where the population is Herders who suffered in- tory shows that men have northern Belgium last sum- "The president can only
booming. A total of eight cluded one of Pommies' always killed them." mer. speak for the period of his
were freed into the wild in friends, whose flock was The Pyrenees are only one Slovenia's brown bear pop- mandate," he said. "There
1996, 1997 and 2006. Anoth- devastated in an attack of the battlegrounds in Eu- ulation is so plentiful that have always been bears.
er release of two Slovenian last year, he said. The sheep rope over efforts to pre- authorities are culling the The history in the Pyrenees is
female bears — Claverina took fright and plunged off serve wild fauna and flora. animals that are becoming one of cohabitation, even
and Sorita — followed in a cliff together. In France's other major a headache for farmers, if it hasn't always been
2018, the first first full year of "There were 256 piled up at mountain range, the Alps, raiding beehives and even easy. ... There have been
Macron's presidency. the bottom," he said. "They wild wolves that also prey attacking people in the bears in Europe for 250,000
The population is now esti- had to finish some of them on flocks are a persistent small Alpine state. years. This is their space." q