The Chamber of Agriculture of Ariège challenges the Prefect of the department this Tuesday in a press release. According to her, a new herd attack is attributable to the bear present in the Pyrenees. 45 sheep were found dead on August 19 in Sentein, Bentaillou, Couserans.
A bear attack every day, according to the breeders
The 45 sheep were found dead on the mountainside. They would have been victims of a rock fall. In other words, a bear would have frightened them and they would have jumped to escape him. Some of those sheep were pregnant. The sheep were then eaten by vultures.
According to the Ariège Chamber of Agriculture, which defends breeders, “not a day goes by without one of the 60 bears from the reintroduction plan attacking the herds.”
The Prefect arrested
The president of the Chamber of Agriculture of Ariège assures that the measures proposed by the State are ineffective. “No electrified fence, no reinforced guarding, no Patou dog will be able to prevent the bears from precipitating the ewes in slopes, everywhere steep, of our summer pastures Ariègeoises”according to Philippe Lacube convinced that solutions exist to protect pastoralism.
“Madame the Prefect of Ariège, give us legal weapons.” —Philippe Lacube
Philippe Lacube directly challenges the Prefect of Ariège: “Madame la Préfète, you have seen it with your eyes and heard it with horror in Bentaillou: the cohabitation between the bear and pastoralism is impossible. In your capacity as representative of the State in Ariège, officially report this , trace it to these Parisian ministries so far from the reality on the ground and you will do justice to the breeders. Against the devastation of the work of the breeders […] give us legal weapons.”