Invenadeiro national park in north Spain has had a confirmed sighting of a bear, for the first time since the 19th century. It should be noted that this area is relatively wild with good populations of wolves, deer and boar.
More importantly this pair was not transient, it actually overwintered within the National Park.
The bear population of northern Spain declined dramatically between 1950 and 2000. A recovery of this population can only be good for the ecology of northern Spain however with farmers having lost the habit of protecting their are beehives and livestock from bears it is likely to take some time for them to readjust – and there are constant calls for the bears to be simply eradicated again.
However, this area of Spain is large enough to support thousands of bears, so I hope that sense and science will be used in deciding the future of this highly intelligent keystone species
