Back in 1910 a hunter shot that lasts to French Pyrenean ibex. It survive for longer in Spain with the last one having been found dead in the year 2000. The new animals, the Spanish western ibex were started to be moved in the year 2014. There is now a population of around 400- a number boosted from last year’s total with 70 young counted this year.
Ibex are incredible animals, capable of scrambling up cliffs that almost all humans would feel the need for ropes in order to climb. They spend their days picking their way carefully along tiny legends on cliffs in order to eat the mosses and grasses that grow there.
It is considered great for the area as it has boosted tourism. Further translocations are planned, both to boost genetic variability and to establish larger home range for the ibex population moving closer to the Atlantic.
It is thought it will take it about 30 years to be fully established across the entire Pyrenees range, though it is considered far more complicated to reintroduce wolves and bears (play the last bears only disappeared recently, but conservation of the population has not been popular for some time). Wolves slowly returning to the area naturally but their presence is not enjoyed by the locals-of course if wolves and bears increase tourism significantly it may help improve the views of these animals.
