Cantabrian brown bears may now number more than 400: calls for a new census
It is an estimate, not a count. Bears are now crossing through tunnels and under viaducts between the range's two population cores.
The brown bear of Spain’s Cantabrian Mountains keeps recovering. The Asturias Bear Foundation (FOA) believes the population is now probably above 400 animals. In the 1980s there were about 80 left.
An estimate, not a count
That’s the view of Nicanor Fernández, president of the FOA. It is an estimate, not a census, and it covers the whole Cantabrian population, not just Asturias. That’s why the foundation is calling for a new census to update the official figure.
The two groups draw closer
Cantabrian bears live in two groups, western and eastern, which were cut off from each other for years. That was a problem for genetic mixing. Bears have now been seen moving between them through tunnels and under viaducts.
“It’s early days”
The bear has been listed as endangered in Asturias since 1990 and in Spain since 2011. Could it come off the list? “It’s early days,” Fernández says. “We’ve come a long way, but we haven’t gone all the way.”
He also warns about bear-watching tourism: “Tourism has its limits.” And he reminds people that the bear “is not a teddy bear”.
The FOA discussed all this at a conference on the “Present and future of the Cantabrian brown bear” at the Oviedo Chamber of Commerce.
If you hike in bear country, read up on what to do if you meet a bear on the trail.
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