Archive for the ‘Navarra’ Category

The last autochthonous Pyrenean bear dead?

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

It appears that Camille, the last autochthonous Pyrenean bear, may have died, after 9 months without any sign of him. His death at the age of 20 comes as no surprise but is a sad symbol of the disappearance of bears in the range.  Now the hope lies in the 20 or so bears which have introduced (or born of introduced animals) in the Pyrenees by the French government from Slovenia. In the photo Camille sits next to the tasty feast of a dead wild boar, somewhere in the Navarran Pyrenees. 20 minutos

This article from Wildlife Extra is also interesting. New research suggests Cantabrian female brown bears do not hibernate while cubs are still young proves anecdotal evidence first recorded many centuries ago.

European mink recovering

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

The European mink, the most endangered mammal in Europe after the Iberian lynx, appears to be recovering. There are now some 500 European mink in Spain divided between La Rioja, Castilla y Leon, Aragón, the Basque Country and Navarra. The animal was once common across Europe but was brought to the edge of extinction in the 1990s by the release of American mink which outcompetes it. A national strategy is aimed at eradicating the American mink in Northern Spain where the European mink should be present. Elimination of American mink from some rivers in Burgos and Álava is allowing the European mink to recover. El Mundo

More on mink on Iberianature

European mink photo: source Gobierno Vasco

The Pyrenees need more bears

Friday, October 30th, 2009

A new French study has shown that at least 13 bears should be released in the Pyrenees in the near future if the species has any chance of becoming viable. La Mañana

On another story, Camille, one of only two bears in Navarra has killed four sheep in Roncal, as he fattens up for hibernation. Here

Beavers in Spain – Castores en España 2

Saturday, December 8th, 2007

Following on from the Beavers in Spain news, European beaver expert Dr Duncan Halley of the Norsk Institutt for Naturforskning has very kindly written this facinating piece for Iberianature on the Navarran beavers.

“The reasoning of the Spanish authorities, that allowing illegal reintroductions to take place sets a bad precedent, is quite understandable. Conservationists often complain when others take the law into their own hands, e.g. by illegal shooting of protected species; the same principle applies here.

In 2005 I was contacted by scientists working for the Navarrese regional government, who sent some pictures of unmistakable beaver signs they had come across while working on European mink. I later visited the site, and saw from a video that the animals are definitely breeding. The exact site I saw was the most favourable for beavers I think I have ever seen, oxbows off a main river with thick, shrubby growth of poplars (easily the beaver’s favourite tree genus), and lots of herbaceous growth as well. Combined with the very benign climate and the very large amount of suitable habitat available on the Ebro system, I have no doubt the species, left to itself, will become firmly established. Unmanaged the river system could support a large population, probably over a thousand individuals. After at least four breeding seasons, the population, allowing for natural increase, is probably well in excess of 50.

As regards the technical aspects of a removal effort, it’s worth recalling how extinction occurred. Beavers were hugely reduced in numbers in most places by mediaeval times, but in most of Europe, including Spain, small populations hung on for well over 500 years until the 17th-19th centuries, the 17th century seeing the arrival of accurate firearms and efficient steel traps. These last beavers tended to be in the best beaver habitat, marshes or large rivers with plenty of cover and no need to dam, or even fell trees much; beavers were therefore hard to find there. The conditions for final extinction also included the very high value of beaver fur combined with the value of the castoreum gland (medicine, perfume), literally worth more than its weight in gold. One beaver was worth more than a Norwegian farmhand’s annual wage in the 18th century, to give perspective. Every man’s hand was turned against them, and by the C17th most people could get hold of a gun or a trap if a beaver was noticed.

Under modern conditions, to remove beavers from a watershed as large as the Ebro requires a professional effort, as the animals no longer have significant commercial value (except for sport hunting in some places). In the case of the Ebro, there are two factors further complicating a removal effort. At low populations beavers typically select strongly the very best habitat patches, living in burrows and felling few trees; in areas with much bushy growth by the waterside, nothing larger than twigs. This will make finding all the sites difficult in a big river system with so much suitable habitat. Interpretation of signs can also be problematic: are they caused by an established family or just a passer by? All this takes time, and so money. Secondly, at least four breeding seasons have occurred since reintroduction. At low population densities, beavers disperse as yearlings and very much evidence shows they will travel long distances – many cases of over 50km are known – to find the very best habitat rather than settle close to their natal territory.

It seems the trapping will be carried out in La Rioja and Navarra only; however, the Ebro runs into Aragon just downstream from the known reintroduction area, the north bank is in the Basque Country not far above it, and the river runs on into Castile y Leon another 20km or so upstream. All these are well within the recorded dispersal distance of beavers in unsaturated habitats, and it is highly probable that some beavers are established there by now. A trapping effort confined to Navarra and La Rioja with therefore probably leave breeding groups both up- and downstream, from which young animals can redisperse into those provinces.

It appears that live trapping will be the preferred method. There are two effective methods, dazzle netting using a trained trapping crew operating at night, effective but expensive given the manpower requirements; or Hancock traps, which are set partly in the water on the riverbank, and baited with territorial scent or poplar twigs. When triggered, they scoop the animal up from below so that it ends up sitting in a basket above water level.

To summarise, an effective removal is technically feasible. However, it will have to carefully check many tens of km of riverbank for beaver signs, a considerable way up and downstream from the known reintroduction area, including stretches beyond Navarra and La Rioja, determine where the settled groups are, and trap them all. The Ebro is a particularly difficult river system for the purpose, being so large and containing so much good habitat; the resources put into the effort would have to be commensurate with this. If the effort is confined to Navarra and La Rioja, the prospects of complete success depend on whether beavers are established elsewhere on the river. Given their known behaviour and the local political geography, this must be regarded as highly probable.”

By Dr Duncan Halley, Norsk Institutt for Naturforskning

Beavers in Spain – Castores en España 1

Friday, December 7th, 2007

News has been released today (El Pais) of the existence of a secret colony of beavers in Spain, and the plan to eradicate it. The beavers currently live along the River Aragon and River Cidacos between La Rioja, Aragon and Navarra. The plan to eradicate the beaver is polemical because although it seems they were introduced illegally, probally by a group of European beaver enthusiants, the beaver inhabited these rivers untill some 300 years ago. Under normal circumstances the beaver would be protected by European law. In this case, the EU has given its backing to the cull to avoid setting a precedent, which might open the door to alegal reintroductions of wildlife across Europe, not particularly because these beavers have been causing a lot of damage.


The first signs were detected in 2005 by mammal researcher Juan Carlos Ceña who was studying the European mink in the area. To his amazament, he came across the tell-tale signs of gnawed trunck.
I have known about the beaver colony for over a year now but I promised the people in charge of monitoring the species that I wouldn’t write anything about it as publicity could increase the likelihood of their eradication. I originally began to research beavers in Spain after coming across this quote by Strabo in his Geography (1 Century AD)
Iberia produces many deer and wild horses. In places, also, its marshes teem with life; and there are birds, swans and the like; and also bustards in great numbers. As for beavers, the rivers produce them, but the castor from these beavers does not have the same efficacy as that from the beavers of the Pontus …And it is peculiar to Iberia , according to Poseidonius, that the crows are black there and also that the slightly dappled horses of Celtiberia change their colour when they brought over to Farther Iberia”.
Basque beaver pellets were an imported item in medieval Britian. Documentary records suggest beavers survived in Spain until the 17th century at least.
Read the follow up to this article by Duncan Halley