Coincidence. You read here how a friend, when in Slovenia, was told that the State had sent a bear to the Pyrenees where they were dying out. To the French side. Well, just over a week after that story, in plops a French magazine with a full account of the bear's arrival, her name, Zita, her vital statistics, and details of the area she now roams.
And what an operation it was. And what a cost. A million francs (divide by eight to get it in pounds) of which three quarters came from Brussels and one quarter from the French Minister for the Environment. Fortunately that cost will cover the transport, etc., of two more bears if it is proved that Zita has become acclimatised. Anyway as the magazine says, no head of state has had such a reception and security guard.
It was on Sunday, May 19th of this year when Zita, after a 20 hour journey over 1,400 kilometres in a well prepared van, arrived in the region of the Haute Garonne; to be precise in the valley of Melles. There, four communes are in decline, and are, according to the magazine, setting high hopes on the bear to start off tourist interest in their area. For what is called Green Tourism.
Wish them luck. For, although the bear is being put into what is felt to be ideal territory, from which she shouldn't want to roam, there is nothing to stop her crossing over into Spain. But back to the release. She was accompanied, of course, by a good veterinarian. And when the doors were opened to release her to her new home, it was done by pull a cord in the rivinging cabin, so that no human odours would frighten the animal as she jumped out. A palisade had been set up beforehand so that she would be guided immediately into the woods. Of which there are 12,000 hectares.
As the magazine put it: "104 kilos of flesh and fur bound joyfully from the cage." There is food in plenty. Even plantations of various fruits. And, as to the sheep she might kill and consume or even injure, the authorities are ready with compensation for the owners. Above all, there is the supervising technology. She carries, of course, a collar with a transmitter. There is a panoply of VHF fixed and receivers, and an will fly over the zone. Someturn up, as the writer says: "Our ancestors who fought against these predators for thousands of years, would go out of their minds at the thought."