Photos: 22 bear cubs reported to have been born in Pyrenees in 2024
The current population is at a record, but the animals’ presence in the region is still hotly discussed
The number of new born brown bears has increased the population to a record, experts say (image shows baby bears in the Naturalandia animal park in the Pyrenees of Andorra)Martin SC photo/Shutterstock
A total of 22 bear cubs were reported to have been born in the French Pyrenees in 2024, a new count of the animals has found.
The Office français de la biodiversité (OFB) counted 96 bears in the French Pyrenees in 2024, including 22 newborns, with a “credibility” of 97 to 123, it said, based on modelling developed with the scientific research agency le CNRS. This means that there could be as many as 123 bears in the area, but that the OFB has definitively identified 97.
This count is a record, as the number of bears in the area continues to increase each year. In April 2023, the OFB counted 76 individuals.
The bears live across mountain ranges with experts estimating that:
The majority live in the central Pyrénées (Comminges region in Haute-Garonne, Couserans in Ariège, the Val d’Aran, Catalonia, Andorra, Aude, and the Pyrénées-Orientales)
A handful live in the western Pyrénées (Béarn, Navarre, Aragon)
One male, an older bear named ‘Néré’, travels between the two regions, above
The new OFB report also found that:
46% only travel and live in France
26% only travel and live in Spain or Andorra
28% travel across the borders of all three countries
It also tracks and names cubs where it can.
The bears are monitored by the 15-strong OFB team, plus 450 volunteers, who help to count them via tracks, observations, and fur findings, plus videos and photos from around 60 automatic cameras attached to trees.
Brown bears were reintroduced into the French Pyrenees in the 1990s - from Slovenia - after their numbers dwindled to almost zero due to hunting and a destruction of its habitat. In 1995 there were just five bears.
The bears have been protected by a European Union directive since 1992. The directive requires France to maintain a viable bear population.
In a new video (see below in a report from FranceInfo), a nature photographer captured an adult mother bear showing her cubs how to dig for food.
Kilian Nestier, the photographer who captured the scene, said: “We feel lucky. We’re happy to see a species like the bear digging in the ground of the Pyrenees, and spreading across the region today.”
Images and videos of mother bears with their cubs have been captured in the past two years, including of the 22 newbornsKilian Nestier / Réseau ours brun / OFB / FranceInfo
However, despite the increasing numbers, more bears are needed to prevent problems related to inbreeding.
“The lack of genetic diversity can have an impact on the population in terms of reproduction or resistance to disease,” said Pierre-Luigi Lemaitre, coordinator of the réseau Ours brun (brown bear network) at the OFB.
Pro-bear associations are calling for new reintroductions to help this. Some scientists say that a ‘viable’ population of the animals means at least 150 bears, the OFB states.
Earlier this year, wild animal protection association ASPAS (l’association pour la protection des animaux sauvages) said it wants to increase the number because the current population is “not enough to ensure a minimum threshold of viability”.
This is because more than 85% of the bears born since 1996 are the descendants of the same male.
And in comparison to some other European country populations, a population of 96 is still a very small number. For example, Romania is said to have around 8,000 bears. It also has more anti-bear measures closer to human habitats, such as special rubbish bins that are collected daily to avoid attracting the animals.
Farmers and other controversy
The bears’ presence in the mountains is controversial among farmers, who lose hundreds of sheep and other livestock per year due to bears attacking their flocks.
There were 310 attacks reported last year (2024), although this was fewer than in 2023.
Similarly, increased bear numbers in Europe have led to other controversial debates, particularly after the death of Andrea Papi, a 26-year-old in the northern Trentino region in Italy, who is thought to have been killed by a brown bear while he was jogging in the forest.
The French heritage association, L’Association de sauvegarde du patrimoine d'Ariège-Pyrénées, which is made up mainly of sheep farmers, has repeatedly issued statements claiming that “Reintroducing bears kills…residents, holidaymakers, hikers, hunters, farmers”, and saying that “everything must change”.
The group is, along with other anti-bear campaigners, calling for “the bear project to be withdrawn from the irresponsible people who have imposed it in the Pyrénées, against the opinion of mountain users”.
However, pro-bear groups have said that attacks like this are extremely rare, and that better safety measures should be put in place instead of reducing bear numbers.
Farmers in the affected regions have access to funding and help to install bear-scaring methods and fences in a bid to better protect their livestock.
Are brown bears in the Pyrénées dangerous?
If they charge or attack, yes. They can run at speeds of up to 55 km/h. However, the risk of coming into contact with a brown bear in the Pyrénées is still extremely low. Even if you do come across one, the risk of injury or death is even less.
Mr Papi’s death in Italy was the first reported in 150 years in the country. In France, no deaths or serious injuries have been reported since the bears’ reintroduction in 1996. In fact, there is no documented case of a person being killed by a bear in France in the entire second half of the 20th century, or in the 21st.
Bears have knocked over one hiker in that time, while cows have “injured 10 hikers and killed one in the last 12 years,” said Patrick Leyrissoux, vice-president and bear coordinator at the Ferus association, to Le Journal Toulousain.
“In 80% of cases, the bears flee. The rest of the time, they’re indifferent [to humans]. They are aggressive in only 3% of cases, always when female bears are accompanied by cubs,” he said.
Notable non-fatal incidents include one bear, Melba, who charged at a hunter, who then killed her. In 1998, another bear, Ziva, charged two technicians from the bear team, apparently to intimidate them.
What should I do if I come across a Pyrénées bear?
You may avoid coming across a bear at all if you make some noise as you walk.
“Encounters often take place with people who are walking alone, in silence, and in windy conditions [that obscure the noise of their movement],” said Mr Leyrissoux.
If you do meet a bear, he had the following advice:
Avoid getting close if you see it from a distance
Only observe and photograph it from far away
If you accidentally get close, back away slowly. Avoid sudden movements and stay facing the bear
Do not turn and run as this could prompt the bear to charge
Feeding bears is forbidden, and it is advised not to publicise their location on social media, to avoid them from becoming too familiar with humans.
