Pyrenees: No more hibernation, a bear would have attacked a sheepfold (Illustration) – Eszter Muller – PixaBay
- On the morning of April 23, a shepherdess from Lançon found the door of her forced sheepfold and a young ram devoured.
- An investigation by specialist agents of the Bear Network is in progress.
- For breeders, the bear attack is not in doubt. Some even believe that the untenable Goiat, known for his raids on herds, has struck again.
Between the signs of swimming in a lake, the traces and the droppings here and there, the testimonies multiply to attest that the bears of the Pyrenees are well out of their hibernation. One of them would have even left a bloody and rather new trail also arousing the controversy.
Friday, April 23 in the morning, a breeder of Sandeel, in the Hautes-Pyrénées, found the door of his forced sheepfold and the remains of a young ram devoured outside the building. An injured sheep also had to be euthanized.
An investigation by the Bear technical team is underway and the prefecture has not yet formalized the predation. But on the side of the shepherds of the National Sheep Federation (FNO), certainty is anchored. “The traces, the hairs, the prints and the way the carcass is devoured leave no doubt as to the identity of the murderer,” they said in a statement.
Goiat dropped his GPS collar
“This attack in a sheepfold, a stone’s throw from homes and in a place very frequented by mountain users (walkers, hikers, cyclists, etc.) demonstrates the public security problem posed today by bears in the Pyrenees”, adds Franck Watts, responsible for the “Bear” file within the FNO. The breeders are taking advantage of this first spectacular incident to demand that reinforced scaring – allowing blank firing on the plantigrades to frighten them but recently banned by the Council of State – be “generalized to all areas where bears are present. “To” teach them the fear of man and his activities “.
Concerning the sheepfold of Lançon, some do not hesitate on social networks to point the finger at the imposing Goiat bear, who has already visited the summer pastures of the Hautes-Pyrénées. Known for his voracity, hated by the shepherds of the Spanish side of the Pyrenees who demand his exfiltration, Goiat got rid of his “problem bear” GPS collar which made it possible to warn the shepherds on his approach. He can now easily cover his tracks.