PIROSLIFE 2016 LIFE “Consolidation of a bear population in a fragmented management territory: the Central Pyrenees” is the name of the project that seeks to consolidate the future of the bear in the Pyrenees in a favorable environment.

LIFE “Consolidation of a bear population in a territory of fragmented management: the central Pyrenees” is the name of the project carried out by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, Food and Environment to implement a series of actions that will consolidate the future of the bear in the Pyrenees in a favourable environment and generate products and systems to be exported the rest of the Pyrenees (Aragon and Navarre), the Cantabrian area and other areas of the EU.

Within the framework of the project, the field patrol of the Brown Bear Foundation, the entity that carried out the actions, has constantly monitored the presence of the bear based on waiting, itineraries and other data, as well as radio-tracking the male bear that was reintroduced in the project. This detailed monitoring of the population through prospecting itineraries, observation waits, photo-trapping and non-invasive genetic analysis has made it possible to collect information on the bears in the population, determining the presence of 5 female bears with cubs born in 2016 and evaluating the adaptation of the reintroduced male.

In addition, work has been carried out to improve the bear habitat by planting groves of native fruit trees and in order to create a social scenario favourable to the presence of the bear, a large part of the project’s actions have been aimed at preventing bear attacks on livestock and beekeeping through the creation of 3 groups of sheep in Pallars and the implementation of 68 actions for the prevention and prevention of support for livestock farmers and 90 actions for the installation of 22 electric fences, monitoring and support for beekeeping farms.

Finally, 25 outreach and awareness-raising activities have been carried out, reaching 392 participants from different areas, who have been informed about the presence of the bear and the need for its conservation.

All these actions contribute to improve the social acceptance of the bear, reduce the level of conflict existing in previous years and guarantee the conservation of the bear in the Pyrenees .