Spring Break
Un-bear-able environmental crisis
Kathryn Treadway
Issue date: 11/11/04 Section: World
In America we have a plethora of bear images; there are cuddly teddy bears, Care Bears that stare, yummy Gummi Bears, and bears that live in big blue houses. What is it about the bear that immediately connects it with a distinct geographic location and culture? Images of panda bears are immediately associated with China and tall bamboo forests, while polar bears conjure images of the frozen tundra and an icy wasteland.
Regardless of nationality, bears are evocative of a certain spirit of strength, and they become a symbol of the area to which they are endemic.
The brown bear, or ursus arctos, was common across Europe, but declined rapidly until it could only be found in Scandinavia and the Pyrenees. In fact, the brown bear became symbolic of the Pyrenees Mountains themselves, but it can be no longer be a symbol. It is a story to which a certain British Pooh Bear might reply, "Oh, bother."
The Valley of the Bears in the Pyrenees may have begun the muffled progression towards silence when on Monday, Nov. 1, a hunter shot and killed the last known female brown bear native to the Pyrenees, thus condemning the species to extinction. The 15-year-old female, affectionately named Cannelle (Cinnamon) by game wardens, was the only reproducing female of the six that live in the mountain range. The sole hope of the species now lies with her 10-month-old cub whose sex is undetermined. The cub fled after Cannelle was shot, and animal protection groups are worried that the barely weaned orphan may not survive.
A group of boar hunters claimed to have fired in self-defense when Cannelle charged their dogs out of fright. The French environmental ministry has said that the hunter acted in legitimate self-defense firing from less then five meters in order protect himself. Action Nature, an environmental group, has condemned the occurrence citing that the organizers of the boar hunt knew the bear and cub were in the vicinity. Nature Action officials went further stating, "No extenuating circumstances can justify this unspeakable act," and continued to add that the shooting was "catastrophic for one of the most emblematic species of our natural heritage."
Regardless of nationality, bears are evocative of a certain spirit of strength, and they become a symbol of the area to which they are endemic.
The brown bear, or ursus arctos, was common across Europe, but declined rapidly until it could only be found in Scandinavia and the Pyrenees. In fact, the brown bear became symbolic of the Pyrenees Mountains themselves, but it can be no longer be a symbol. It is a story to which a certain British Pooh Bear might reply, "Oh, bother."
The Valley of the Bears in the Pyrenees may have begun the muffled progression towards silence when on Monday, Nov. 1, a hunter shot and killed the last known female brown bear native to the Pyrenees, thus condemning the species to extinction. The 15-year-old female, affectionately named Cannelle (Cinnamon) by game wardens, was the only reproducing female of the six that live in the mountain range. The sole hope of the species now lies with her 10-month-old cub whose sex is undetermined. The cub fled after Cannelle was shot, and animal protection groups are worried that the barely weaned orphan may not survive.
A group of boar hunters claimed to have fired in self-defense when Cannelle charged their dogs out of fright. The French environmental ministry has said that the hunter acted in legitimate self-defense firing from less then five meters in order protect himself. Action Nature, an environmental group, has condemned the occurrence citing that the organizers of the boar hunt knew the bear and cub were in the vicinity. Nature Action officials went further stating, "No extenuating circumstances can justify this unspeakable act," and continued to add that the shooting was "catastrophic for one of the most emblematic species of our natural heritage."