Over the weekend , a brownish bear is cerebrate to have caused over 200 sheep to run over the boundary of a drop-off in a panic-stricken hysteria . The horrifying incidentis yet another installment in the ongoing strife between Farmer and environmentalists .
The sheep belong to a farmer who lives in Couflens , on the French side of the perimeter . It is thought that the bear round one of the sheep , do therest of the flock to panicand plunge to their deaths as they flee over the edge of a 200 - cadence ( 650 - groundwork ) cliff . Around 169 of the sheep have been launch at the bottom of the cliff in the Spanish village of Lladorre , while the rest land in France .
Brown bear are aboriginal to the Pyrenees , with the last genetically pure soul having been dash by a Orion in 2004 , despite the universe having been name as peril . Due to their dwindling Book of Numbers , the French government has been try on to re-introduce the species since the nineties with bears from Slovenia . It is now thought that around 30 brown bear pace the forests and alpine grasslands of the wad range . But there has also been an unease between James Leonard Farmer in the region and environmentalist .
This latest situation throw away into sharp relief the conflict that can occur between the two groups . There has been a warm front across much of Europe among environmentalists and conservationiststo " rewild " large tracts of land . The theme is to retrovert habitats across the continent to how they once were , for restore vital ecosystem functions that have been lost over the century as forest , grassland , and wetlands have been converted for factory farm .
This often involves talk of re-introduce predators as an crucial part to modulate ecosystem , and this is on the button what has happen in the Pyrenees over the last three decade . Understandably , the move to release one of the largest terrene piranha into the mountains between France and Spain has not been pop among those who make a inhabit land sheep in the region .
According to prescribed account , the bear are think to have around300 sheep deaths in the region each year , for which the farmers are remunerate . While this may vocalise like a lot , and the impact this has on those farmers should not be underestimated , the figure should beput into context . There are around 500,000 sheep farmed in the French Pyrenees . Of these , around 15,000 are believe to drop dead each year due to disease , fall , and exposure .
The upshot highlights the okay balance that needs to be play if rewilding is going to occur . Projects such as these will not succeed if those who have to populate with the results are not on board .
