Brown bears in the Cantabrian Mountains live in danger.
In northern Spain, members of an organised group of poachers from the province of Palencia were convicted of crimes against the environment. The three accused have to pay a fine of over 5,000 euros each and lose their hunting and fishing licence for a period of five years. By means of camera traps, the Spanish EuroNatur partner organisation Fapas had documented several cases of illegal hunting methods – for example the men set packs of hounds on wild animals. Financially supported by EuroNatur donations, Joaquín Morante, who is surveying the eastern part of the bear habitat on behalf of Fapas, was able to report the “bear killers” from Palencia, and Fapas was able to cover the lawyer fees for the lengthy court case. No one had dared to tackle this dangerous poacher clan before
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“This is a very important success for the protection of the bears, even though it is actually ridiculous what the ‘Bear Killer Gang’ in the end was sentenced for: poaching a few wild boars. But we have set an example! We have shown that these people are not untouchable. If an organisation like Fapas can intervene successfully, then officials must be able to do so, too. This precedent should be an incentive for rangers and the police to trace and report other poaching clans,” says Roberto Hartasánchez, President of Fapas.
More about our bear protection project in Spain