A bear has killed two sheep, a goat and a ram from a flock in Gessa, a municipal entity in the municipality of Naut Aran, in the Val d’Aran (Lleida). In the herd, owned by two ranchers, there is another missing goat and an injured sheep.
The Conselh Generau d’Aran has assured this Thursday that Environment agents are working on the ground to collect samples that can facilitate the detection of the bear.
Eduardo Melero, one of the owners of the herd, is convinced that there have been several attacks between Monday and Tuesday “because the remains of the animals were very far from each other.” The bear has killed the two males and a sheep. His friend, the owner of the missing male, has had a sheep killed.
Eduardo Melero has been harmed by bears seven times in recent years, one year it happened twice. Last year he got away.
On this occasion, as the bear’s marks are clear, the Conselh Generau d’Aran will compensate the cost of the three dead animals. He has not always collected all the animals he has lost. Remember when he found 10 dead animals and only received compensation for five. “It was _he says_ two years ago, it took us a week to find them, in those days vultures and other animals were able to approach the animal, it could not be proven that it had been a bear.”
He is convinced that the administration “has gotten out of hand with the reintroduction of the bear” because “there are more and more sightings.” He argues that the Generalitat usually says that there are 83 bears in the Pyrenees but that “not all the samples collected by Environmental agents belong to registered bears.”
As a rancher, he believes that it would be very useful if the Conselh Generau d’Aran recognized all attacks and for agents to notify the owners of the places where bears are detected.
Farmers’ unrest is becoming widespread. To protest the increase in bears in the Lleida Pyrenees, two rallies have been called this week. Union of Farmers convened the first one on Monday in Llavorsí and the Cattlemen’s Association of Pallars Sobirà in collaboration with Asaja did it on Tuesday in Sort.