Bear scaring: the weeks pass by and nothing changes in Ariège...

Reinforced scaring planned for bears in the Pyrenees mountain range during the night from 2 and 3 August and from 3 to 4 August have been authorised this Monday, mostly after 5:30pm, by the Ariège Prefecture. For the Arreau pasture, our freedom emergency interim proceeding of two weeks ago led to the shots being interrupted. For the one in Ourdouas, it is as yet unpublished in 2023.

Once again, and this is clearly a new reality in this department in Occitania, the State does not care about giving bears even an ounce of space to breathe… or those defending them. Each week since the beginning of July, it is the same story: it is a race against time to stop scaring shots on bears and bear cubs, going against their health and that of the species as a whole.

These shots, which, let’s not forget, are a special dispensation to a strict protection regime, are likely to lead to intense stress, going so far as to cause miscarriage in pregnant females and the separation of the female bears from their young, which is unacceptable damage both in terms of the sentience of these animals as well as the environment. Their population is in great danger of extinction, to the point where captures have been carried out in Slovenia to try to reverse the trend… even though they are released into a territory that is highly hostile to their very existence.

Will the administrative tribunal challenge the arguments blown away by farmers?

Fortunately, the administrative tribunal heard the arguments developed in our first freedom emergency interim proceedings and did not challenge any of them the following week. We are furious about the irresponsible behaviour by the Prefecture who refuses to protect animals in danger, to benefit an all-powerful agricultural lobby who literally dictate their own laws.

However, nothing proves to farmers that bears are to blame! And even if that were the case, can we not find solutions that allow us to coexist without immediately jumping to their persecution?

At a time when the fight to preserve biodiversity and for animals’ rights to live in peace constitute a major challenge of our time, allowing the limitation of the demise of the living and the impact of environmental changes, the Prefecture makes the delirious choice to continue scaring bears.

On 2 August 2023 at 9:30am, we will therefore be present at the hearing at the Toulouse Tribunal (for the third time already this summer) to defend female bears and their young against scaring shots in the Ariége pastures of Ourdouas and Arreau.

Translated from the French by Joely Justice