Gisèle Gouazé with part of the flock grazing on their winter pasture in Betchat
Early last June [2017] 838 sheep went up to their estive (summer pastures) near Mont Rouch as they do every year. But, despite the presence of a shepherd living with them on the mountain, nearly half of them didn’t return. The reason? Bears. (more…)
My last article was based on Catherine Brunet’s book La bergère et l’ours [The shepherdess and the bears] in which she declares that the measures proposed by the State to protect sheep can work. Here, I reproduce interviews given by farmer Éric Fournié and his shepherd Gérard Pujol about their experiences in the mountains in the summer of 2017.*
For the last five years Éric Fournié has done everything the State has recommended to protect his sheep. This summer 223 went up to the estive [mountain pasture] at Arréou [near Seix, Ariège] and he thought that this year was going to be a good one.
Last Saturday I went to a meeting of farmers, politicians and officials called to discuss the effect of bears on sheep farming in the Pyrenees. There are now about forty brown bears in the massif following two waves of reintroductions over the last twenty years. Their presence is still controversial, particularly in Ariège where the meeting was held. Ensauvagement, rewilding, is a dirty word in some quarters.
To my mind, there were two significant developments at the meeting which went by the name of the États-Généraux du Pastoralisme. One was the announcement of a scientific investigation into whether the government-recommended measures to protect livestock really are useful. And the second was the President of the Ariège council’s announcement that he could envisage, albeit reluctantly, that the bears are here to stay.
The famous video in which a group of armed men dressed in balaclavas threaten to “restart bear-hunting in Ariege”
The discussions started in the morning but it wasn’t until the Prefect [the government official responsible for overseeing the department] had left that things started to heat up. During the final plenary session, a man who had just arrived asked for the microphone. He grabbed the attention of the audience by mentioning “the famous video that you have all seen, with the guns” and then went on to say that bears had no place in the Pyrenees. The audience clapped and a few minutes later he left. For him, that was all there was to it.
Footprints on the mountains… the news from the Pyrenees
From the back cover: The Pyrenees are by turns beautifully natural and bleakly austere; shaped by centuries of labour… and scarred by human suffering. In the valleys, Steve talks to locals and meets an eccentric cast of hikers. But on the heights he is alone with marmottes and sarrios. He listens to protagonists on both sides of the argument over the reintroduction of bears. And goes searching for ibex imported as part of a rewilding programme.
Sario (Spanish) or isard (French), a common sight in the Pyrenees
My new book on the Pyrenees is about to be published. This time I’ve been walking on the Senda Pirenaica, the GR11.
It seems to me that selling direct to the consumer, which has developed enormously in Britain in the last few years, has yet to have a significant impact in the Pyrenees. But there are changes to be seen.
If the cows won’t go to the milking shed then the shed will have to go to them
I came across this mobile milking shed near the Col de Pause in Ariège. The farmer explained that, as the season advances, the cows move higher up the hill in search of fresh grass. Instead of bringing them all the way down to the farm for milking, he moves the milking shed progressively higher.
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In Catalan: Els Pirineus Indòmits. Una Renaturalització Sorprent
Rewilding with bears and wolves
The Spanish Pyrenees and walking the Senda (GR11)
GR10 : Éditions françaises
Les Pyrénées tout en marchant sur le GR10 de Steve Cracknell
(16cm x 24cm, 319 pages, 30 photos, carte)
Disponible chez Amazon
GR10: English editions:
If you only walk long enough - exploring the Pyrenees
[print and Kindle]
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