Thursday 5th July, a hiker got the surprise of his life when he was walking in the Pyrenees.
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Little orphan
In the highlands above Fos in the south of the Haute-Garonne in France, he found a bear cub that was just a few months old, just a few metres away from a very busy area.
The small mammal was found alone, with no trace of its mother anywhere nearby.
Immediately, the walker called the ONCFS (National Hunting and Wildlife Agency) which established a security perimeter around the area and then took the brown bear cub into care.
Poor health
The animal was dehydrated, had hypothermia and was very physically weak. So the cub was placed in a large cage where he was then able to be fed and examined by a vet.
The orphan then got its strength back and was able to be released into the wild, within the Haute-Garonne province.
The creature hasn’t been identified for certain yet, but it is possible that it is one of two bear cubs that was filmed by a hidden camera high in the Pyrenees and which proved that a lot of brown bears were being born in the South of France.
Where’s the mother?
This discovery is worrying since it is extremely rare that a bear cub gets separated from its mother. Agents at the ONCFS have therefore decided to release the little six-month-old cub in an area where specialists think its mother was spotted a few days before.
ONCFS agents decided to track the bear cub by putting a device in its ear so they would be able to follow the bear’s journey in the mountains and act quickly if ever the bear got into any further danger.
'A protocol has been put into place for bears in trouble such as in this case. The technicians work includes evaluating the situation depending on their age. The priority for them is leaving them in their natural habitat and we know that cubs born in winter can manage to fend for themselves from the month of July onwards.' explains Alain Reynes, member of the Adet-Pays Bear Association that advocates for the presence of these large animals in the South of France.
We’ll definitely be following this story closely and we wish this bear cub a long and happy life!
