The population increased from 52 in 2018, according to data from the cross-border group that monitors bears in France and Spain, with half the creatures living in the Catalan areas of the Pyrenees Vall d’Aran, Pallars Sobirà and Alta Ribagorça. In total, the population is sparsely distributed over an area of 6,500 square kilometers. The study identified 34 females, 32 males and four others whose sex was not determined, with 15 puppies born during the past year. There have been 114 newborns since the program began in 1996. The brown bear was almost extinct in the Pyrenees when three bears were imported from Slovenia 26 years ago. The last native specimen was shot in 2004 and two years later four females were imported, also from Slovenia. By 2016, all cubs born since 1997 could be traced back to Pyros, a male bear from Slovenia. Another male, nicknamed Goiat (the lad), introduced from Slovenia in 2016, was accused last year of killing animals in the area. A ram, four goats and a sheep were killed in separate attacks last fall at the Vall d’Aran. Goiat had already gained notoriety across the border in France, where farmers demanded his removal. It is now known that he is in Catalonia, where he acquired at least a small one last year. The repopulation plan has been opposed by farmers from the beginning, although the brown bear diet is largely vegetarian and rarely kills for food. There was a similar outcry last year when the Spanish government banned wolf hunting in the more populous northwestern regions of Castilla y León and Galicia. Farmers in the area say wolves kill hundreds of their animals each year, although they can claim compensation for any animals killed. The EU-backed Franco-Spanish project LoupO was set up in 2020 to coordinate the monitoring of brown bear and wolf populations in the Pyrenees.
