SAVE THE BEARS
4 years ago:
Last Updated: Tuesday, 2 November, 2004, 17:28 GMT
E-mail this to a friend Printable version
Fury at killing of Pyrenean bear
Brown bear in captivity
Only about 15 brown bears are thought to remain in the Pyrenees
One of the last remaining bears in the Pyrenees has been shot by hunters, to the fury of French environmentalists.
The 15-year-old female - known by game wardens as Cannelle - was surprised with her 10-month-old cub in the Aspe valley by a party on a wild boar shoot.
The hunters claim they fired in self defence on Monday after Cannelle charged their dogs and bit one of them.
But environmentalists have accused the group of deliberately visiting an area known to be occupied by bears.
Cannelle - or Cinnamon in English - was one of only 15 brown bears believed to remain in the Pyrenean mountains, on the border between France and Spain.
A hunt with dogs in a sector where a female bear has been spotted is inexcusable
Ligue Roc
Her cub fled from the hunters but experts who had been monitoring the pair fear for its survival without a mother. Its sex is not known.
French police in the Pau area said the six hunters came from Urdos, near the cliffs where Cannelle had been seen, according to the Associated Press (AP) news agency.
Nature organisation Ligue Roc said: "A hunt with dogs in a sector where a female bear has been spotted is inexcusable."
'Dumbstruck' by killing
The group Action Nature said in a statement: "There are no extenuating circumstances behind this indescribably catastrophic event.
"The organisers of this wild boar hunt knew perfectly well that Cannelle and her offspring of this year were in the area when they went to indulge their pleasure."
Bernard Place, president of the Departmental Hunters' Federation, told Agence France Presse he was "dumbstruck" by the killing.
"The hunters had been warned there was a bear in the area," he said. "There should not have been any shoot."
The anger of environmentalists is all the greater because Cannelle was the last female bear in the region of pure Pyrenean stock.
While two other males are indigenous, the remainder are bears imported from Slovenia. Only three or four breeding females now remain in the whole mountain range.
Attempts to increase the number of bears - a protected species - by bringing in animals from other areas of Europe have been opposed by cattle and sheep farmers. Many are also local hunters.
Serge Lepeltier, France's minister of ecology and sustainable development, had called for an inquiry into the circumstances of Cannelle's death, AP said.
**************************************************************
Now, april 2008
hunter cleared of killing 'last bear':SHAME ON FRENCH JUSTICE
A French hunter accused of unlawfully killing the last known female brown bear native to the Pyrenees was acquitted today after telling a court he had acted in self-defence.
Rene Marqueze said he opened fire on the 15-year-old female, named Cannelle (Cinnamon) by park wardens, when she charged him.
Cannelle was accompanied by a cub at the time of her death in 2004 and the shooting caused an outburst of fury among environmentalists who were seeking to reintroduce bears into the Pyrenean mountains in south-west France.
Many local farmers, who say the bears kill sheep and damage crops, are strongly opposed to efforts to reestablish them and environmentalists suggested at the time Cannelle was killed deliberately.
But Marqueze said he was confronted by the bear while hunting for wild boar in the Aspe valley of the Pyrenees.
"She raced forward when I saw her; I took off to get out of her way but she didn't hesitate. She charged me from behind," he told French radio earlier this year.
He said he shot the bear from a distance of five to six metres.
If he had been convicted, he would have faced up to nine months in prison and a 9000-euro ($A15,300) fine.
Reuters
even 9 months of jails for such people are nothing....
*********************************************************************
remember ...
First bear found dead was poisoined. An autopsy has revealed that the first bear found dead at the start of September was poisoned with an illegal and highly toxic substance called Aldicarb. The bear died almost a year ago and its sex is still to be determined. This make five bears to have killed this way in the Cordillera Cantábrica since 1998. brown_bears_spain More here at Fapas
Top of page Brown bears in Spain
September news 2005
Second bear found dead in a month was shot.
According to the Veterinary Faculty of the University of León , a bear found by hikers on 25th Sept in Palencia died from "traumatic injuries" caused by gun cartridges. Killing a bear in Spain is punished with up to 4 years in prison. The animal was a male of some 15 years, and formed part of the fragile 'eastern' population of 25-30 individuals. The president of the Fundación Oso Pardo, Guillermo Palomero, noted that the death of one of the area's 6-7 females would have been much worse. Investigators are still unsure of the cause of death of the first bear found in Palencia in early September, though it appears not to have been shot. I am unaware as to when the last bear in Spain (as opposed to France ) was shot.
Never minimize power of nature...revenge of life against death industry and ignorance.
