That's no Teddy Bear
If you ever come on a fishing trip to the mountains of northwestern Spain, be aware that the spot on the stream you have staked out, with only the trees, the water, and the mountains for company, just might have been staked out before your arrival.
That is what a fisherman discovered last Sunday while fishing on the river Navia, in eastern Lugo, near the border with neighboring Asturias. At around eight in the morning, he felt a presence. He looked up and saw a brown bear looking at him. As is understandable, the fisherman wanted to immediately transport himself elsewhere, but wasn't exactly sure how. While he was thinking out the spiny problem, of run howling or stay absolutely still, he was actually staying absolutely still. The bear decided to leave in the interim, crossed the river, and was lost to sight on the other bank. The article I read didn't state, but I imagine the fisherman decided to decamp and look for fish somewhere else. Immediately.
That isn't the first time bears have shown themselves in modern Spain. They have been an endangered species for very long, but their numbers have been recuperating in the western mountains of the Cantabrian range. That's more or less where Lugo, Asturias, and León find themselves. It's a beautiful area to go hiking, but with the caveat of possibly finding a bear accompanying you on the trail.
Sometimes, the appearances are almost comical. Two years ago, in a very wintery month, in a village in the mountains of León that was stranded by a heavy snowfall, a man was looking out at his snow-buried front steps, and saw a bear cub climb up onto the porch and look at him through the window. Then, it scrambled away, probably trying to find its mother. In another village in the mountains of the Bierzo, in western León, a young bear decided to visit a small village in search of fruit. In the broad daylight of a summer's afternoon. It would just walk down the street, into some orchard or other, and pick the ripe fruit. It even stopped and drank from a fountain on one visit. After a couple of visits, the neighbors asked the authorities to explain to the bear that what he was doing was called stealing and immoral, and that he should go somewhere else. He was taken further into the mountains and shown where he could eat for free without breaking the rules.
Others have taken honey from bee keepers. When the owner installed electrified wire around the hives, the bear got the message. But another bear in the hills of León got the wrong idea and decided to change his menu. In the month of July, 2013, a bear made a pantagruelian meal of fourteen sheep, one calf, and one cow. Residents of the village decided to stay inside at night, seeing as how to get to some of the stables where it partook of a delightful meal, it had to amble through the middle of the village. They were frightened that the bear might not notice any difference between a human and a sheep. It's true that sometimes the difference is slight, but a bear should still not go around eating sheep. It's not the best diet. It was sedated and taken into the higher hills, where it might quench its taste for flesh with the occasional mountain goat.
Yup, the bear is making a comeback. Now we just have to learn to get along with each other.
That is what a fisherman discovered last Sunday while fishing on the river Navia, in eastern Lugo, near the border with neighboring Asturias. At around eight in the morning, he felt a presence. He looked up and saw a brown bear looking at him. As is understandable, the fisherman wanted to immediately transport himself elsewhere, but wasn't exactly sure how. While he was thinking out the spiny problem, of run howling or stay absolutely still, he was actually staying absolutely still. The bear decided to leave in the interim, crossed the river, and was lost to sight on the other bank. The article I read didn't state, but I imagine the fisherman decided to decamp and look for fish somewhere else. Immediately.
That isn't the first time bears have shown themselves in modern Spain. They have been an endangered species for very long, but their numbers have been recuperating in the western mountains of the Cantabrian range. That's more or less where Lugo, Asturias, and León find themselves. It's a beautiful area to go hiking, but with the caveat of possibly finding a bear accompanying you on the trail.
Sometimes, the appearances are almost comical. Two years ago, in a very wintery month, in a village in the mountains of León that was stranded by a heavy snowfall, a man was looking out at his snow-buried front steps, and saw a bear cub climb up onto the porch and look at him through the window. Then, it scrambled away, probably trying to find its mother. In another village in the mountains of the Bierzo, in western León, a young bear decided to visit a small village in search of fruit. In the broad daylight of a summer's afternoon. It would just walk down the street, into some orchard or other, and pick the ripe fruit. It even stopped and drank from a fountain on one visit. After a couple of visits, the neighbors asked the authorities to explain to the bear that what he was doing was called stealing and immoral, and that he should go somewhere else. He was taken further into the mountains and shown where he could eat for free without breaking the rules.
Others have taken honey from bee keepers. When the owner installed electrified wire around the hives, the bear got the message. But another bear in the hills of León got the wrong idea and decided to change his menu. In the month of July, 2013, a bear made a pantagruelian meal of fourteen sheep, one calf, and one cow. Residents of the village decided to stay inside at night, seeing as how to get to some of the stables where it partook of a delightful meal, it had to amble through the middle of the village. They were frightened that the bear might not notice any difference between a human and a sheep. It's true that sometimes the difference is slight, but a bear should still not go around eating sheep. It's not the best diet. It was sedated and taken into the higher hills, where it might quench its taste for flesh with the occasional mountain goat.
Yup, the bear is making a comeback. Now we just have to learn to get along with each other.
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