Actions for the conservation
of the brown bear in Spain
Fernando Ballesteros – Fundación Oso Pardo – LIFE Bear Defragmentation
“Endangered large carnivores and scavenging raptors in Europe”
LIFE PLUTO - Teramo, October 13-15, 2016
Two unconnected and genetically differentiated subpopulations
Very low heterozygosity (Ho=0.28 in the eastern subpopulation)
Eastern subpopulation critically endangered
Western
subpopulation Eastern
subpopulation
AT THE END OF THE XXTH CENTURY
MONITORING
Annual counting of females
with cubs of the year
western eastern
Poisson regression,
Estimated rate of
exponential growth
from 1994 to 2014 was
10.1%
(7.8–12.4; p < 0.0001)
for the western
subpopulation
10.4%
(5.0–16.4; p = 0.0002)
for the eastern
subpopulation
More than 1.500 illegal snares removed by FOP patrols
Decreasing number of illegal snares founded by FOP and court reported poachers
-574 snares and 45 poachers reported in 2005-2009
-132 snares and 3 poachers reportedin 2010-2014
Agreements reconciling hunting and bear conservation signed with Spanish Hunting
Federation, Cantabrian Hunting Federations and different hunters’ associations.
Delivery of more than 1.600 electric fences to beekeepers and hunters to prevent
damage and avoid poaching
Three main highways crossing the possible dispersion routes for bears
Genetic evidences of migration between subpopulations
- 1991-1999: 1 migrant male detected (western to eastern) (Garitagoitia et al. 2007)
- 2004-2007: 4 migrant males detected (3 western to eastern) and 2 mixed bears in
the eastern subpopulation (Pérez et al. 2010)
- 2013-2014: 26 eastern bears genetically identified (7 migrants from western
subpopulation and 14 intermediate genotypes) (Fundación Oso Pardo, in prep.)
2009-2011 LIFE07 NAT/E/000735
Corridors for Cantabrian Brown Bear Conservation
2013-2016 LIFE12 NAT/E/000192
Habitat defragmentation for Cantabrian Brown Bear
Bears in the Pyrenees
-Begining of the XXth century: more than 200 bears
- 2004: Last autochtonous female bear (Canelle) died
- 1996-97 and 2006: Reintroduction 6 females and 2 males from Slovenia
2016: a new male from Slovenia released in Spain
NEW CHALLENGES – HOW TO LIVE WITH MORE BEARS???
BEAR WATCHING ACTIVITIES AS AN OPPORTUNITY AND A CHALLENGE
NEW CHALLENGES – HOW TO LIVE WITH MORE BEARS???
BEAR WATCHING ACTIVITIES AS AN OPPORTUNITY AND A CHALLENGE
Oso habituados/oso problemáticosNEW CHALLENGES – HOW TO LIVE WITH MORE BEARS???
YOUNG BEARS, FOOD AND VILLAGES: TOWARDS HABITUATION
