Happy as a bear in Slovenia

Reserved for subscribers

REPORTAGE. Slovenians have learned to coexist with the brown bear, twenty times more numerous in their country than in the Pyrenees. Attacks are rare.

By Ian Hamel in Postojna (southern Slovenia)

Jernej spent his evening translating from French into Slovenian the articles devoted to the meeting, at the end of October in Paris, of elected officials from Ariège with the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau, escorted by two Secretaries of State, concerning the attacks of against the herds. “I don’t understand: bears don’t like meat, especially fresh meat. They feed almost exclusively on forest fruits, grass, berries, ants, butterflies. Why would they go after the sheep in France? the guide wonders. The Slovenians are all the more interested in the bears of the Pyrenees as they were imported from Ljubljana, between 1996 and 2006, in order to avoid the risks of inbreeding of the tricolor species in our mountains.

Usually bears join their t…

I subscribe

Exclusive offers: -50% the first year