First brown bear for 150 years seen in national park in northern Spain

Guardian ^ | 5-3-20

[SJackson]

Images captured on cameras being used for film shoot in thinly populated area of Galicia

The bear is thought to have spent the winter in the park – probably after making its way south from the Sierra del Caurel mountains. Photograph: Montaña ou Morte/Zeitun Films

A brown bear has been spotted traversing a rugged and sparsely populated area of north-west Spain for the first time in 150 years thanks to a set of camera traps and a bit of luck.

Images of the animal were captured on cameras set up by a crew shooting the film Montaña ou Morte (Mountain or Death) in the Invernadeiro national park in Galicia’s Ourense province.

Although the area is home to wolves, deer and wild boars, this is believed to be the first time a brown bear has been seen in more than a century.

“The bear, a male aged between three and five, is the first to be filmed in the area and probably the first to have crossed through the region in the past 150 years,” the production company Zeitun Films said in a statement.

[SJackson]

Related, different subspecies Ursus arctos arctos rather than Ursus arctos horribilis, our grizzly. Actually they size is related to where they live. The Hispanic variety, at one time it’s own subspecies, Ursus arctos pyrenaicus, is about half the size of the arctos in remote areas of Russia and Scandinavia, which are the size, even larger, than our grizzly.

[SJackson]

He appears to be posing for the camera.

He does. Might be a stock image.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

And some bear spray! :)

[Right Wing Assault]

Global warming. /s

[SJackson]

Wonder what that costs. Not the bear spray.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

More than I can afford! :)

[SJackson]

I remember seeing one of these at a National Park campground.

Off road RV on a military chassis. I think they're around $250m. In the 3 or 4 days we were there, it never left it's site. An RV site in the park. Never saw the occupants leave. The generator never went off. Pretty plain inside. As a status symbol, a waste of money. Maybe they were resting up for a multi week off road trip.

[FreedomPoster]

So still plenty of capacity for nastiness, probably more dangerous than our black bears.

[Daffynition]

It may not be wanted so much. Poor fella.

[Daffynition]

We both need to join *Sisters on the Fly*

[Jumper]

Brown bears have been a protected species in Spain since 1973. In an effort to consolidate the bear population in the Pyrenees between France and Spain, brown bears from Slovenia have been introduced over the past two decades.